Less than two months after they suspended their stir demanding drought relief from the Centre in the national capital, farmers from Tamil Nadu revived their agitation on Friday, this time in Chennai, directing their ire at Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
The agitators assembled at Chepauk to renew their stir, which they said would continue for the next 32 days. They had attracted widespread attention during their earlier agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, where they protested with skulls of dead farmers, carried mice in their mouth and even stripped naked to draw the government’s attention to their plight.
Accusing the Chief Minister of not honouring his commitments on disbursing drought relief, community leader P. Ayyakannu said that the protest would continue for the next 32 days, adding that the agitators won’t budge until their demands are addressed. He also reiterated the demand to write off farm loans.
“The CM had said that drought relief would be paid to all affected farmers in Tamil Nadu. But we haven’t seen even a single paisa of relief so far. He has instead approached the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the Madras High Court order on the waiver of farm loans of drought-affected farmers,” he rued.
The protesters also expressed their solidarity with the agitators in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, some of whom were killed in a recent firing incident. “Across the country, our brethren are being dealt with harshly,” Mr. Ayyakannu said, adding that on June 16, farmer leaders from across the 29 States would gather at the Gandhi Peace Foundation in New Delhi to chart their future course of action.
Swindling charge
V.O.C. Ramajayam, the grandson of Tamil politician and freedom fighter V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, who was among the protesters on Friday, said that it was unfortunate that the families of freedom fighters, who lived off farm incomes, were languishing in the State.
Among the protesters were farmers from Chethupattu village in Tiruvannamalai district, who alleged that they were swindled by the State government agency that collects farm produce. “We sold paddy worth ₹1.5 crore to a trader from the Agriculture department, but were not paid any money for it. The culprits, who were arrested by the police, are now out on bail, and we don’t know what to do to recover our losses,” lamented Murugan of Chethupattu. He alleged that over 300 farmers had been cheated in this way.
When contacted, Deputy Superintendent of Police T.R. Kotteeswaran confirmed that the claim was indeed true. He said that the trader who cheated the farmers was an agent of the State Agricultural Marketing department, adding that a case against the offender was pending in court.
“The culprits are presently out on bail, but will be summoned during the course of the court proceedings,” he said.
Insurance claims
The farmers also pointed out that despite paying farm insurance premium, they were yet to avail of its benefits. V. Senthil Kumar from Ariyalur district said that last year, he had harvested 380 quintals of maize corn. But this year, his produce fell drastically to 36 quintals. Despite having insurance cover for his crop, he said his claims remained unsettled.
