TIRUPUR: About 200 farmers from
Palladam taluk besieged the Tirupur collectorate on Wednesday demanding the government to allow tapping of toddy along with
neera. The protest follows the recent police crackdown on tappers.
"It is not feasible to tap neera from coconut trees unless toddy tapping is allowed. Neera tapping became successful in
Kerala as the neighbouring state allowed toddy tapping as well. Neera would become toddy if it is stored in around 9 degrees celsius," said A S Babu, Coimbatore district president of Katchi Saarbatra Tamizhaga Vivasaigal Sangam.
"Though the agricultural department has not taken any steps to train farmers on tapping of neera, they were trying to extract neera from inflorescence of coconut trees by three methods. However, the police were using excess force to stop farmers from tapping by destroying pots and cutting the inflorescences," Babu added.
"In
Kullampalayam near Palladam, a senior police officer forced the farmers to go out of their farms. A policeman slapped a tree climber for tapping," said Rasu, another functionary of the farmers' association.
"The police should register cases if they found farmers illegally tapping neera. We are ready to face cases in courts but destroying pots and threatening farmers and tree climbers would not be accepted," Rasu said.
Even as the farmers were besieging the collectorate, the rural police seized around 6 litres of toddy at
Kamanaickenpalayam near Palladam.
The farmers' representatives held talks with DRO Prasanna
Ramasamy and district superintendent of police P Muthusamy. As the police assured that they would not destroy any pots, the farmers withdrew the protest after four hours.
Superintendent of police E S Uma told TOI, "We did not destroy any of the pots for the past two days. Many farmers were illegally involved in tapping toddy instead of neera. So far, 40 cases have been registered against them."
Representative Image
