Criticising the Central and the State governments for not granting waiver of agriculture loans they had availed, farmers staged a novel protest by breaking bangles before staging a walkout at the farmers grievances day meet here on Friday. They also demanded immediate constitution of the Cauvery Management Board.
A section of the farmers who gathered outside the venue of the meet at the Collectorate tried to gain entry sporting bangles on their hands. But the police stopped them and directed them to remove the bangles while the group led by the vice-president of the Federation of Farmers Associations Kakkarai R. Sukumaran insisted that they would go in with the bangles. Protesting the ``failings of the State Government’’ in not obliging the demand for farm loans waiver, the agitating farmers broke the bangles and then entered the venue.
There, they laid siege to the officials, including Collector A. Annadurai. and demanded among others immediate farm loan waiver on the lines of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, support for the waiver from the Central Government, immediate constitution of CMB and taking steps to get water released for current kuruvai paddy cultivation.
The other farmers, including Thangappa Udayanpatti P. Ramasamy, Thozhagiripatti P. Govidarajan and others, pointed out that the Arignar Ana Cooperative Sugar Mills at Kurungulam had ran up arrears to the tune of ₹30 crore over for the cane supplied in the past two years and demanded that the mill immediately pay the arrears to the suffering cane growers.
The cane growers also demanded to know the development in the inquiry launched against those who indulged in malpractices involving several crores of rupees in the sugar mills. They warned that if the officials did not take any action in the coming days then the cane growers would be forced to file cases against the officials themselves.
Arignar Anna Cooperative Sugar Mills CEO Mohanraj replied that the mills administration had sought ₹33 crore from the State Government for disbursing the arrears and also noted that action was being taken against the 41 officials and 85 cane growers found to be directly involved in the malpractices.
