Deputy Commissioner of Mysuru Abhiram G. Sankar has convened a meeting at the Zilla Panchayat auditorium here on July 15 to discuss problems faced by farmers of the district. The meeting will be attended by district-level officials of various departments and farmers representatives, he said. The DC’s assurance came after farmers staged a demonstration in front of his office on Tuesday to press for redressal of various grievances they were facing.
Speaking on the occasion, president of the Federation of State Farmers’ Associations Kurubur Shanthakumar said the government was ‘dead’ in the State. He accused politicians of indulging in a “shameless” drama for the sake of power while the State was reeling under a drought with reservoirs running dry and the situation in the villages becoming worrisome for farmers. Official apathy had left farmers high and dry, Mr. Shanthakumar lamented.
He urged the Governor to dismiss the “unstable” government and facilitate the installation of a stable one.
The farmers, who had earlier submitted a memorandum to the DC, demanded that sugar factories begin crushing of sugarcane early.
In the memorandum, Mr. Shanthakumar pointed out that sugarcane farmers, who had entered into an agreement with sugar factories, were worried about their crop drying up in view of the prevailing drought and urged the authorities to direct sugar mills to begin crushing activities soon. Borewells had dried up in the region in view of the poor rainfall this year, affecting the sugarcane crop, he said. Mr. Shanthakumar also urged the authorities to immediately discontinue its policy of registering the mortgage of land belonging to the farmers seeking a loan from co-operative banks. In view of the policy, the farmers were forced to make several trips to the registration offices for weeks and spend a large sums of money on the registration.
He complained that banks, due to confusion on agriculture loan waivers, were serving notices to farmers for outstanding loans and adjusting payments and subsidies they received for milk and sugarcane towards the loans. He urged the government to resolve the problem and facilitate fresh loans to the farmers. He urged authorities to fill up lakes, take up irrigation work, and complete other development work. He sought public auction of fruits and vegetables so that farmers are spared of paying 10% commission to middlemen.
