No entry at shandy, ryots ‘sell’ veggies at Collectorate

As the grievance day meeting was underway, several farmers gathered with gunny bags filled with vegetables such as tomatoes, cauliflower, potatoes, and lemon, and began to sell them in front of the Collectorate.

The scene was that of a busy vegetable market in front of Collector’s office as public flocked to buy vegetables from the farmers who were selling their produce at a cheaper rate.

The farmers, however, had withdrawn their protest after police held talks with them to avoid chaos.

Thereafter, around 25 farmers led by Tamil Nadu Farmers Association Coimbatore district President S Palanisamy presented a petition to Collector TN Hariharan alleging that officials are turning away farmers who are coming from far off places to sell their produce at ‘Ulavar Sandhai’ in RS Puram.

“A total of 220 shops are there in the shandy and farmers should be allotted shops by lot system. However, the officials are turning out to be biased while allotting shops and fixing rates for the vegetables which are brought by the farmers. Also, many farmers are not being allowed to sell their produce at the shandy,” he said.

Beside demanding action against the erring officials, the farmers also threatened to put up permanent shops in front of Collector’s office if their grievance is not sorted out. On receiving their petition, the collector TN Hariharan promised to look into the issue.