Livelihood issues, absence of community halls and public cremation grounds are among the pressing concerns for voters in the rural constituencies.
Voters, especially women voters, complained of not having regular work in farm lands due to dwindling agricultural activity after dip in profits and conversion of farm lands for real estate activities.
“We have work only for three to four months in a year. The money that we earn during the period is hardly enough to run the family for an entire year, said a woman farmhand in Kothapurianatham in Thirubhuvanai Assembly constituency.
The woman said when work is available in sugarcane and paddy fields she would earn ₹240 per day. “We split the work during morning and evening hours,” she said.
She complained that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, which ensured guaranteed work for 100 days, was implemented on paper alone. “The only way to improve our livelihood is proper implementation of the scheme. The government should consider adding more days of guaranteed work under the scheme. But I don’t think people are going to vote on these issues. Caste affiliation matters a lot during polls in our village,” she said.
Several women farmhands to whom The Hindu spoke wanted the government to distribute rice through the Public Distribution System instead of giving money through Direct Beneficiary Transfer mode. “We need to travel and spend long hours in the bank to withdraw the amount. It is an arduous task,” she said.
For the marginal farmers it is the lack of remunerative price that has hurt them most.
Shanmugham, a cane farmer, said after delay in payment from the Puducherry Cooperative Sugar Mill Limited, the cultivators have started sending their produce to private mills situated in Tamil Nadu. The Cooperative mill management was yet to pay arrears to farmers who had supplied cane during the last two crushing seasons, he added.
“The transportation cost has hit us badly. Like the decision to write off farm loan waiver, the government should take some urgent step to revive the functioning of the cooperative mill,” he said.
People also complained of delay in construction of community hall and crematorium. “For the last 10 years, we are demanding a community hall and crematorium. Nobody has bothered to heed to our demand,” said Anjapuli, a farmer in Karayambuthur said.
