Members of Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam who held a demonstration here on Wednesday, under the leadership of the association’s State president Dr M R Sivasami appealed to the State government to initiate action against the industries that polluted water sources and lands.
Sivasami while hailing collector P Sankar for closing down leather and glue factories for violating norms, urged the administration not to renew the licences for these industries. He also appealed that no polluting industries must be allowed in the district, which has been adversely affected for the past four decades.
He said, wards of farmers must be given 50 per cent reservation in government jobs and the education sector. He also mooted monthly pension for aged farmers and special relief assistance to the tune of `5 lakh for farmers who died while at work or committed suicide when they were unable to continue with the farming activities. Sivasami also said the State should waive all loans obtained by farmers who were unable to repay due to severe drought conditions and a relief of `10,000 per acre must be paid to all farmers.
The farmers must be provided with fresh loans without conditions to continue with farming activities. They also sought the procurement price for sugarcane to be fixed at `4,000 per tonne, `3,500 per quintal of paddy,Rs 40 per litre of milk, Rs 100 per kg of copra and `15 per coconut and incentives for producing more of these commodities. The farmers also sought 100 per cent subsidy on farm mechanisation drive undertaken by the government and said the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme should be fully dedicated to farming activities.
The State should extend free electricity scheme without any conditions and the broiler farmers should be paid `15 per kg of chicken, they added. The State while acquiring farm lands for other purposes should adequately compensate farmers on par with open market rate, they demanded.