The monthly farmers’ grievances meting went online with the Thanjavur district administration conducting the exercise over video conference on Friday.
Arrangements had been made at the offices of Assistant Director of Agriculture in all 14 blocks from where farmers aired their grievances over video conference to Collector M. Govinda Rao. The move was mainly aimed to reduce overcrowding at the Collector’s Office, where the meeting is normally held, in view of the pandemic. Farmers were requested to attend the meet at the block offices by adhering to physical distancing and wearing face masks.
The initiative was largely welcomed by farmers representatives as the monthly grievances meetings had remained suspended during the lockdown and farmers have been complaining over lack of opportunities to get their grievances redressed. “It was a welcome opportunity to air our grievances after six months. We were apprehensive of connectivity issues, but there was no problem with officials able to set right minor hiccups quickly. The meeting went off smoothly,” said V. Jeevakumar, district vice-president, Tamil Nadu Vivasaya Thozhilalar Sangam.
Mr.Jeevakumar said he participated in the meeting from Budalar and put forth demands for opening more direct procurement centres in Budalur and ensuring transparency in assessment of damages for sanction of compensation under crop insurance scheme. He also insisted that no more oil wells should be allowed to be dug in the delta region, which has been declared a protected agricultural zone.
Agricultural Department officials informed the farmers that kuruvai paddy has been raised on a record 58,948 hectares in the district this year. This was a new high in the last 35 years, they said. Of this, harvest has been completed on 30,031 hectares. Samba paddy has been raised on 7,173 hectares in the district so far.