Farmers stage dharna for crop insurance benefits
The Hindu
THOOTHUKUDI The inordinate delay in disbursing the crop insurance benefits to the farmers for the ye
The inordinate delay in disbursing the crop insurance benefits to the farmers for the year 2020 - 2021 overflowed onto the Collectorate here as the agitated agriculturists staged dharna on the Collectorate premises for a while on Monday.
Before submitting petition to Collector K. Senthil Raj, more than 300 protesting farmers affiliated to various associations staged the agitation at the main entrance of the Collectorate. They, led by Karsial Bhoomi Vivasaayigal Sangam A. Varadharajan, said they had cultivated rain-fed crops like black gram, green gram, maize, sorghum, cotton, chilli, shallot, coriander and sunflower in 2020 – 2021 on over 1.70 lakh hectare. Though the unseasonal rain had destroyed these insured crops completely, the insurance firm had disbursed insurance benefits only to some of the maize growers 20 days ago while leaving others in the lurch.
“Farmers of several villages have been left out from giving the insurance benefits even though they had paid the insurance premium before the deadline and have the receipt. Hence, the insurance benefits should be given to the farmers without any further delay,” Mr. Varadharajan said.
When the Deputy Superintendents of Police Prakash and Sampath told the protestors that five of their representatives would be allowed to submit their petition to the Collector, they rejected the suggestion instantly, saying that all of them should be allowed to meet the Collector. “Else, the Collector should come to this spot to meet us,” said the protestors.
The farmers suspended their agitation for a while only after Superintendent of Police L. Balaji Saravanan pacified them and took 15 farmers to the Collector to submit their petition.
After Dr. Senthil Raj assured them that they would get the benefit within a day or two, they farmers gave up the agitation and left the Collectorate premises.
A group of residents from Raja Puthukkudinear Kayathar, led by village panchayat president Arumugasamy, staged a dharna with empty pots on the Collectorate to highlight their demand of regular supply of drinking water in sufficient quantity. The villagers said they were buying a pot of drinking water for ₹ 10 as supply of drinking water was erratic for the past three years. Even though the pipes carrying drinking water to Kovilpatti, Aruppukottai and Virudhunagar were passing through their village, no step had been taken to supply drinking water from these schemes to Raja Puthukkudi, a wayside habitation.
In 2021, five women from Mayithara, four of them MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers, found a common ground in their desire to create a sustainable livelihood by growing vegetables. Rajamma M., Mary Varkey, Valsala L., Elisho S., and Praseeda Sumesh, aged between 70 and 39, pooled their savings, rented a piece of land and began their collective vegetable farming journey under the Deepam Krishi group.