Farmers staged a demonstration in front of Revenue Divisional Office, Kumbakonam demanding ₹3500 a quintal as the minimum support price for paddy.
In a symbolic action, they dumped paddy on the ground. A section of farmers, who had assembled at the RDO office under the banner of Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmers Protection Association to attend the revenue divisional-level agriculture grievance meeting on Wednesday, staged the demonstration at the gate of the RDO office.
Paddy brought in a gunny bag was poured on a plastic sheet spread on the floor as a mark of protest. They raised slogans demanding ₹3500 per quintal as MSP for paddy procured by the government through the direct purchase centres. They said Kerala government had announced ₹2795 per quintal as the MSP for paddy.
Talking to reporters later, S.Vimalanathan, secretary, Thanjai District Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, said sufficient DPCs have not been opened to purchase paddy forcing farmers stock their produce in open for days together.
Meanwhile, farmers in Thiruthuraipoondi taluk have expressed their dissent in the inordinate delay in purchase of paddy.
Alleging that the farmers were being made to wait at the DPCs in the taluk for more than a week, Govindaraj of Thirupatur said that around 800 bags of paddy were being procured in several DPCs in the taluk though the State government had announced that 1000 bags of paddy would be procured in DPCs daily.
Besides, the paddy procured and stacked in the DPCs have not been moved to the storage points regularly. The delay in transferring the stock from DPCs to storage points was cited as a reason for not purchasing more than 800 bags of paddy by the staff, he said.