THANJAVUR: The official team constituted by the Central Government to assess the drought condition in Tamil Nadu is to visit Thanjavur district on Sunday, said A Annadurai, District collector, speaking at the Farmers’ grievance redressal meeting here, on Friday.
“The Central team has scheduled to tour the state from January 22 through January 24 to assess the drought situation. The team would be divided into four groups and each group would assess the situation in a different district. The team constituted to visit Thanjavur district would commence the work here on January 22 at 9 am. The team members would visit the fields in Pudupattinam, Mela Uloor and Chokkonavur villages in the district before proceeding to Tiruvarur district,” he added.
He appealed to the farmers to meet the Central team members at any of the three locations and to narrate their losses in a detailed manner, elaborating on the cost of cultivation, the state of the crop and the like.
Samba and thalady crops had been cultivated in 2,65,000 acres and the irrigation water has been stopped on November 11. Though the requirement is 225 TMC, the district received only 31 TMC of water this season.
Due to the drought condition, the number of working days under the MGNREGA has been extended from 100 days to 150 days. The Government has issued orders to dig 286 farm ponds in private farmers’ fields and 386 ponds in government lands under MGNREGA, the Collector added.
A proposal has been sent to augment the fodder stock in the district for the cattle at the cost of Rs 58 crores. Rs 12 crores has been earmarked to overcome drinking water scarcity, he added.
The enumeration process to assess crop loss is going on and no farmers with more than 33% of loss would be left without compensation.
The district administration has recommended compensation to five farmers who committed suicide due to crop loss, added the Collector. He also urged the farmers to install drip irrigation systems in their fields with 100% subsidy for small and marginal farmers and 75 percent for other farmers.