‘Delay in water release affects agricultural activities’
The Hindu
Delay in water release affects agriculture; farmers demand compensation, direct purchase centres, flower market, and protection of waterbodies.
The Water Resources Department’s delay in release of water had affected agricultural activities, the farmers told the officials at the farmers grievance redressal meeting held at Madurai Collectorate on Friday.
Collector M.S. Sangeetha presided over the meeting. The farmers told the officials that they should be compensated for the loss. Several hectares of agricultural lands were not cultivated as a result, they said.
Some of the other grievances were with regard to the need for an adequate number of direct purchase centres in the district. The Collector told the farmers that it would be opened in a phased manner.
The farmers urged the authorities to open a flower market in Usilampatti similar to the one in Mattuthavani. The farmers also complained about encroachments and stressed the need to protect waterbodies. The farmers were told that the grievances would be looked into and redressed.
Political economist Parakala Prabhakar has described the exit poll results as “fudged figures”, saying that those would benefit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) only. “False predictions were given with the sole objective of helping the NDA in rigging during the counting,” alleged Mr. Prabhakar, after releasing a book titled ‘Avineeti Chakravarthi Narendra Modi’ penned by former Minister Vadde Shobanadreeswara Rao, here, on June 2 (Sunday).