Farmers to boycott elections, until animal menace is put to an end

RANIPET: Members of Tamilaga Vivasayigal Sangam have decided to boycott all elections - local body, Assembly and Parliament – till forest department officials put an end to the animal and bird menace affecting their crops, sources said.

The move started at Annur in Coimbatore district and has now spread to integrated Vellore district, “mainly because repeated petitions to the Forest Department has failed to elicit any response,” said the Sangam’s Ranipet district president CS Mani.

In Vellore, farmers in Pernambut, Gudiyattam and Anaicut areas face daily confrontations with wild animals, mostly elephants, which stray into TN from their sanctuary in AP and destroy sugarcane, paddy crops and mango farms.

“While the pachyderms do not eat paddy, they trample it causing huge loss to farmers. In the case of mango trees, elephants pull down whole branches at the budding stage,” Thirunavukarasu a Gudiyattam farmer said.

Wild boars also add to the menace. There are cases of farmers being attacked by elephants when locals burst crackers or bang on metal vessels to drive them away, he added.

“At Anaicut in Ranipet, peacocks are a big nuisance as they come in groups and destroy groundnut and other crops,” a Nemili farmer said.

“At the irrigation tank in Kariyakudal and at Siruthamalli in Nemili taluk it is common to find deer grazing along with goats,” said R Subash the Sangam’s youth wing state president. About compensation, he said, “When we face a loss of around Rs 1 lakh we might get Rs 1,000 and that too after a long time due to the red tape involved.”