Farmers demand compensation for damage to paddy crop caused by rain

Farmers demand compensation for rain-damaged paddy, while residents seek intervention to vacate administrative stay on land registration.

Demanding compensation for the damage caused by recent rain to the standing paddy in a few places under Maanur union, a group of farmers submitted petition to District Collector K.P. Karthikeyan on Monday.

 Led by D. Abraham, an office-bearer of Coordination Committee of Tamil Nadu All Farmers’ Associations from Kaanaarpatti, the farmers submitted the petition to the Collector. The petitioner farmers said the rain that lashed the Maanur union between August 14 and 16 had badly damaged the standing paddy on over 100 acres in Pallamadai and the surrounding areas.

 “When we tried to harvest the paddy without much damage, the heavier harvesters got stuck in the west clay soil of the farms. So, we cannot harvest the paddy, which have started germinating now. Hence, the Collector should depute a team to inspect the quantum of damage and get compensation from the government for the crop loss we’ve suffered,” he said.

 A group of people from Old Pettai submitted a petition to the Collector seeking his intervention to vacate the administrative stay on registering their lands as the officials say that it belonged to a dargah.

 The petitioners said over 100 families were living in wards 16 and 17 of Tirunelveli Corporation in Kandigaiperi village near Old Pettai over the past 100 years. The residents have built their houses on the lands registered in Sub-Registrar’s Office in Tirunelveli and were paying property tax, vacant land tax etc. to the Corporation besides paying the electricity charges to Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation.

 The residents have been given Aadhaar card, Electors’ Photo Identity Card and ration card.

 “When some of us approached the bank for raising loans by pledging the document of their property (house), they were informed that they can neither sell nor pledge the properties as the property belonged to Nafiza Dhargah. The Department of Revenue had given instructions to the Department of Registration against registering these lands. We want to make it clear that the properties in ward 16 and 17 of Tirunelveli Corporation do not belong to Nafiza Dhargah at any given point of time. Hence, the Collector should give due instructions to the Sub-Registrar, Tirunelveli to register these lands when we approach them,” said S. Ravindran, one of the petitioners.