The Idukki district committee of Kerala Karshaka Sangham will hold a march to the collectorate at Painavu on Thursday demanding the effective implementation of the Idukki package, solution to the land-related issues and retaining the subsidy given for fertilisers.
Sangham district president N. Sivarajan and secretary N.V. Baby said that the Swaminathan Commission had effectively recommended the Idukki package combining different sectors for the over all development of the district. However, there are certain “political interfierence'' that prevents its implementation effectively, said Mr Sivarajan.
According to him, the package has all relevance and if it is implemented in letter and spirit, the crisis being felt in the agriculture sector could be solved to a great extent. He said that the delay in implementing the package will result in freezing the growth in the farm sector which is the backbone of economy. He said that he did not understand the reason why the package was not implementing as suggested by the Swaminathan Commission.
There should be a solution to the land-related issues in the district and the ecologically fragile area status, if needed, should be amended to benefit the farmers. He said that the subsidy should be retained for fertilisers as there was a spurt in its prices recently. To issue the condition free title deeds, the decision taken by the Left Democratic Front government should be implemented. The LDF government had issued 14,790 condition-free title deeds and the United Democratic Government should take steps to make the title deeds legally valid.
He alleged that there was a move to announce 168 areas including Kanthallur, Vattavada and Kalyanathandu as ecologically fragile area and it will harm the interest of the farmers.
The prices of the fertilisers had been increased five times during the past six months, he said and added that it will impact up on the farm sector and the economy. The march will be inaugurated by the Karshaka Sangham state president E.P. Jayarajan.
