The Tamizhaga Cauvery Farmers Association and the TamilNadu All Farmers Coordination Committee has alleged that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has suspended the procurement of paddy in Punjab and Haryana as a fallout of the enactment of the three contentious Farm Laws.
When the members of these two associations attempted to besiege the FCI godown at Bamani near Mannargudi on Monday to register their protest against ‘the FCI’s move to suspend procurement’, they were prevented and arrested by the police citing the Election Model Code of Conduct. The demonstrators who converged at Panthaladi area in Mannargudi started marching towards the Bamani FCI godown.
However, they were intercepted by the police within 100 metres from Panthaladi. They were arrested and released later, sources said.
Talking to the reporters at Mannargudi, P. R. Pandian, general secretary, of the association Tamil Nadu, claimed that the FCI had stopped the procurement and shut its godowns at Punjab and Haryana where the rabi season harvesting activities have started picking up. By doing so it had relinquished its responsibility and forced the farmers to sell their produce to private players.
Mr. Pandian said that by enacting the three new Farm Laws the Union Government had made the farmers a slave to multinational companies.
