Unlike delta districts, Vellore has seldom drawn the attention of policy makers to its agrarian crisis. Farmers, who have been battling acute scarcity of water, withering crops and parched lands, have been waiting regime after regime for measures to breathe life into their waning livelihood.
With rains failing them, farmers have been facing drought situation for close to a decade. Many of them have been demanding the government to declare Vellore as drought-prone district and take up remedial measures to create a lifeline for agriculture. But their demands have not yielded any result.
Sixty-three-year-old S. Narayanamurthy of Pennathur village is one of them. His parched land is proof of the agrarian crisis staring at farmers.
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“I could not raise any crops for the last five years due to non-availability of water. ,” he said.
Seek restoration of Palar
The well in his farm has remained dry for several years. “Water level rose only after the rains during November 2015. Now, there is 75 per cent water in the well, and I hope to raise paddy this year,” he added.
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Many farmers like him are looking forward for measures to restore the Palar river that has been bearing the brunt of rampant sand mining.
K. Loganathan, district president of Thamizhaga Vivasaigal Sangam, said 15 years of poor rainfall has turned Palar into a perennially dry river. “Promises of declaring the district as drought-prone and grant of relief continue to remain as mere promises,” he noted.
Dam work abandoned
During the previous DMK regime, the foundation stone was laid to construct a dam at Bathrapalli in Pernambut. But this work was abandoned after the government changed, he said.
One of the biggest disappointments for farmers is the delay in executing the Thenpennai-Palar link project that was initiated in 2008-2009. Their repeated pleas to implement the project that would revive Palar have fallen on deaf ears.
The project envisages diverting flood water from the existing Krishnagiri reservoir from Nedungal to Palar river via Kallaru through a link canal of nearly 54 km length. “This is a question of livelihood of hundreds of farmers. If implemented, it will bring water into Palar river basin, recharge ground water and benefit 11,800 hectares of land,” said A. C. Venkatesan, president of Tamil Nadu Pasumai Paadhukaapu Makkal Iyakkam.
In fact, the State government had announced that it would spend on the project if the Centre does not allocate funds as it is an intra-State project.
But nothing moved on. “It is a huge disappointment that no political party is talking about this project. Leaders talk about delta farmers, protecting Thamirabharani, Cauvery, Mullaiperiyar but not Palar,” he added.
Farmers also want scientific methods to be implemented to restore lands that have bore the brunt of tannery effluent discharge.
Compensation
They also want affected farmers to be properly compensated. Another demand of sugarcane farmers is immediate settlement of arrears by the three cooperative sugar mills.
An agricultural expert said Vellore is also facing shortage of seeds, and there was a need to strengthen government farms.
“Despite receiving good rainfall last November, a huge volume of water was lost to the sea. The government should construct check dams, at least one for every two kms, on Palar,” he added.