A group of farmers from Thenmalai near Sivagiri submitted a petition to Collector M. Karunakaran on Monday urging him to take immediate steps to repair the damaged shutters of Muriyapaanjaankulam.
The Thenmalaikulam near Sivagiri, which was once irrigation the crops cultivated on over 5,000 acres in this region, was not getting water from Muriyapaanjaankulam as the shutters of the ‘feeding tank’ had remained damaged for the past thirty years.
Consequently, farming in this region is gradually dying with the agriculturists leaving for other areas in search of livelihood.
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Pressing their demand for repairing the Muriyapaanjaankulam shutters, a group of farmers submitted petition to Dr. Karunakaran on October 5 and the Collector assured them that he would personally look into this issue.
Against this backdrop, farmers from Thenmalai and other areas gathered and blocked vehicular traffic on the Sivagiri – Sankarankovil Road on October 12. Some of them uprooted the flag-masts of all political parties near the bus-stop. They also announced that they would boycott the Assembly polls if the damaged shutters were not repaired.
To highlight their demand, farmers of Thenmalai submitted the petition again on Monday and sought the Collector’s intervention.
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