Rain spoils paddy bound for DPCs; Thanjai farmers upset

TIRUCHY: Thanjavur farmers are deeply upset as their harvested crops kept for procurement had been damaged in the heavy rain that lashed the district from Thursday night.

While more than 85 per cent of kuruvai harvest has been completed across the Delta region, a sudden downpour in Thanjavur district from Thursday late evening drenched a huge quantity of paddy that was kept for procurement.

Since the DPC staff were particular in procuring paddy with 17 per cent moisture condition, farmers in the district were drying them for the past few days. “We covered the paddy with tarpaulin sheets to prevent rainwater from damaging it. But the rain was heavier and the entire stock of paddy was damaged,” said Masilamani, a farmer from Kalimedu village.

The situation was similar in Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts, which also experienced heavy rains since Thursday.

Farmers said that they were fighting for the increase in the moisture condition as the Delta districts have been witnessing unexpected rainfall. “When the Central team visited the district, we put forth the appeal to relax the moisture condition at the earliest and we were hopeful that there would be an announcement soon. But, till now there is no information. Had the officials allowed the moisture condition up to 22 per cent for which we have been fighting, our losses can be minimised to a great extent,” Masilamani said.

Farmers appealed to the state government to intervene and put pressure on the Centre to increase the moisture condition and help reduce their loss.

Farmers group protest discrepancy in crop relief

Farmers from Thanjavur staged a protest on Friday claiming that there was a discrepancy in the disbursal of crop damage compensation. Members of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam led by district president P Senthil Kumar converged in front of the Thanjavur Collectorate and staged a protest claiming that the crop damage compensation of Rs 36 lakh only has been announced for seven revenue villages in the district for 2021-22. While there was no such announcement of compensation for Peravurani, Pattukottai and Orathanadu blocks which had faced severe damage. They claimed that the government had purposefully denied compensation to Thanjavur and urged that the issue should be sorted out soon otherwise; a series of protests would be initiated across the district. They also demanded to increase the moisture level up to 22 per cent for the procurement and proper MSP for paddy.