Inadequate Fengal aid: TN Farmers urge State to pressure Centre to declare national disaster

TIRUCHY: Asserting that the compensation for damages incurred by Cyclone Fengal was inadequate, the delta farmers appealed to the state government to insist the Centre declare the cyclone a national disaster and allocate adequate funds.

The State had announced a compensation of Rs 498 crore to 5.18 lakh farmers from 18, including Villupuram, Cuddalore, Kallakurichi, Ariyalur, Chengalpattu, Dharmapuri, Kancheepuram, Krishnagiri, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Namakkal and Ranipet. Chief Minister MK Stalin said the compensation covers 3.23 lakh hectares of affected agricultural and horticultural crops.

However, the delta farmers said that the fund of Rs 498 crore was inadequate and demanded the state government insist the union government declare the devastation as a national disaster and allocate a proper fund to enhance the compensation.

"The central team had visited Tamil Nadu after the Fengal cyclone devastation. The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman also visited the cyclone-hit areas and consoled the farmers, yet the union government failed to declare it a national disaster. It is time for the state government to insist on the Centre to make the announcement," said Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan, secretary of Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmer Protection Association.

He also urged the state government to maintain transparency in the beneficiaries list and display the list in every village office and government website so that the farmers can be aware of it. This would ensure that the genuinely affected farmers could avail themselves of the benefit, he added. "Let the government take two or three days more to make the list of beneficiaries. We will wait," he said.