Chaos in ryots’ meet over water from Karnataka, hydrocarbon

As soon as the meeting, which was chaired by District Collector A Annadurai, commenced, all the farmers present in the hall stood up from their seats and condemned the Karnataka government’s action and also demanded the withdrawal of the government’s hydrocarbon extraction activity in the State and later staged a walkout by raising slogans in unison.

Farmer V Govindaraj said that the State-owned Arignar Anna Sugar Mill was shut down for the past two days over the water crisis. He then urged the State government to allow the sugar factory to function by drawing water from the Kollidam pumping station.  

V Jeevakumar said that there were several irregularities even in the Kudimaramathu works. He also demanded a white paper on the issue. He also rued that the Kollidam river bed had already dried up owing to monsoon failure.

Sundara Vimalnathan stated that only a few farmers from Thiruvaiyaru, Papanasam, Kumbakonam and Thiruvidaimaruthur were distributed crop insurance dues. He also said that the tcompensation due to  the people affected by Gaja cyclone were not properly distributed. 

Later, Collector Annadurai who had witnessed the interaction of the farmers, said that those who involve in the Kudimaramathu scheme should discuss with the ryots before commencing work.