Farmers seek Rs 10k input relief per acre, Rs 30k per ha for crop damage

The Central team headed by Joint Secretary of Ministry of Home Affairs Rajiv Sharma visited the region on Tuesday to assess the damages caused by the north east monsoon rains. The Team which reached Nagapattinam, visited the worst hit areas where 5,917.28 ha crops, including samba and thalady were damaged while as many as 808 houses were partly damaged and 18 houses totally damaged and two women died. They later visited the fields that were submerged at Pappakoil and Erunchalai villages.

Subsequently, they interacted with the farmers. The farmers also demanded the Central team to empower the state to formulate the guidelines to obtain compensation.

Meanwhile, the farmers demanded the extension of the deadline for annual insurance till December end as the north east monsoon starts from October and continues till November end. They urged the insurance companies to strictly adhere to the deadline for the payment of compensation and empowering of state to legally monitor the companies.

The farmers also sought that private insurance companies should not be allowed in the insurance sector and the National Agricultural Crop Insurance Company should only be allowed to insure crops.

Later, the team visited Mayiladuthurai, Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts and inspected the crop damages and property damage occurred due to the north east monsoon.

Meanwhile, the visit of the Central team to inspect rain damage in Vellore and Ranipet districts proved to be anticlimactic on Tuesday. Citing lack of time, the team excluded visit to Kaveripakkam in Ranipet district to inspect flood damage and hut damage in Vellore district.

Eyebrows were also raised as to why the team failed to visit Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai districts which suffered human and material damages.

The team inspected damage to the Ponnai river bridge where piers were damaged and repairs were estimated at Rs 90 lakh. The team also advised Collector B Kumarvel Pandian to claim the total damage after completing assessment.