Declare Tirunelveli district drought-hit, say farmers

Farmers in Tirunelveli district, TN, urge govt. to declare it drought-hit due to monsoon failure since Jan. 2022. Crop loss, debt, lack of drinking water & fodder for cattle have doubled their woes. Petitioners threaten to boycott upcoming polls if demand not met. Collector hands out ₹1L to accident victim, ₹50K to sub-editor's wife & ₹1L each to families of two snakebite victims.

Urging the Tamil Nadu Government to declare the Tirunelveli district as ‘drought-hit’, farmers from Maanur area submitted a petition to Collector K.P. Karthikeyan on Monday.

Led by D. Abraham, district secretary of Confederation of Tamil Nadu All Farmers’ Associations, they said farming had been done only on 18,000 acres in the upstream of Tamirabharani basin this year with the water getting released in only two irrigation channels while no farming operations had been carried out in the remaining 1.50 lakh acres due to monsoon failure since January 2022.

The agriculturists of Tirunveli district, who tested their fortune, had suffered extensive crop loss in 2022 – 2023 as there was no rain since January 2022. The farmers, who had availed crop loans from the cooperative and public sector banks with the hope of mitigating their crop loss in 2022 with the harvest they could get in 2023, had only accumulated their debt after facing a severe loss.

The non-availability of drinking water and fodder for the cattle had doubled their woes forcing them to sell their cattle for throwaway prices to butchers.

“Hence, the Collector should recommend to the government to declare the district as drought-hit so that the farmers will get compensation for their crop loss caused by the monsoon vagaries. If the district is not declared as ‘drought-hit’, we’ll mobilise 5,000 farmers at Vannikonenthal on October 30 to conduct a road roko to highlight our demand. We’ll not hesitate to boycott the forthcoming Parliamentary polls,” said Mr. Abraham.

Action sought

A group of students of a primary school at Maduththupatti near Seevalaperi near Palayamkottai submitted a petition seeking action against their headmaster, “who is coming to the school under the influence of alcohol”.