Farmers of Thiruvaiyaru taluk registered their protest against the acquisition of fertile lands for the proposed Thiruvaiyaru By-pass Road project by walking out from the virtual agriculture meeting held at Thiruvaiyaru on Friday.
The virtual meet was chaired by the Collector, M.Govinda Rao through online from the District Collectorate at Thanjavur and farmers participated in the AGM from the office of the Assistant Agriculture Officers and at the Block Development Offices in the district.
When the meeting commenced, farmers at Thiruvaiyaru walked out from the meeting hall demanding that the land acquisition process be shelved immediately since the proposed by-pass road passes through fertile agriculture lands. Later they attended the meeting where they made oral representation to the officials in support of their demand.
At Kumbakonam, Sundara Vimalanathan, secretary, Thajavur District Cauvery Farmers Protection Association demanded an enhanced price for paddy and sugarcane in Tamil Nadu. He said that ₹2795 per quintal was provided to paddy at Kerala and ₹2500 per quintal of paddy at Chattishgarh. For sugarcane the Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra governments were providing ₹3500 per quintal, he added.
Participating in the virtual AGM at Budalur, V.Jeevakumar, State Deputy President, Tamilnadu Vivasaya Thozhilalargal Sangam, urged the government to create a storage facility for onions at Valakudi in Budalur block since a large number of farmers have taken up onion cultivation.
At Thanjavur, Govindaraj, a sugarcane cultivator, requested the officials to initiate steps for extending the Mayanur Mettukattali Canal which brings water to Kurumpoondi lake up to Mudalaimuthu lake.
Chairing the meeting at the Collectorate, the Collector said that efforts have been initiated to improve 2000 hectares in rain-fed areas in the district under the Tamil Nadu Mission on Sustainable Dryland Agriculture scheme implemented by the Agriculture Engineering Department. Further, it had also been proposed to encourage black gram and sesame cultivation in about 120 hectares in 12 circles during rabi season under the National Agriculture Development Project, he added.
Stating that samba/thaladi transplantation had been completed in 72157 hectares in the district, Mr.Govinda Rao said sufficient quantity of nurseries have been raised for samba/thaladi transplantation in another 50000 hectares.
