TIRUCHY: A popular farmers’ leader in Tiruchy, Puliyur Nagarajan (64) succumbed to the novel coronavirus while undergoing treatment at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) here on Thursday.
As the state president of the farmers’ wing of the Tamil Manila Congress, he was very active in voicing farmers' concerns.
Puliyur Nagarajan was even present at the discussion held with farmers at Tiruchy in the presence of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.
During that meeting, he submitted a petition to the Chief Minister listing out a set of demands to help the delta farmers.
Appreciating the CM for carrying out Kudimaramathu works on a war-footing, he demanded him to write off all the pending crop loans and also distribute fresh loans to the farmers so that they could take up cultivation during this pandemic situation.
He also requested the CM to pressurize the Cauvery Water Management Authority to get Tamil Nadu’s quota of Cauvery water from Karnataka.
Importantly, he asked the CM to arrange to distribute face masks to the farmers and farm workers through village panchayats in order to save them from the deadly virus.
Three days ago, Nagarajan wrote on his Facebook account sharing his happiness by posting that both Cauvery water and rainfall have come together to rejoice of delta farmers.
Two days ago, he had COVID symptoms and approached a private hospital. There he was tested positive for the virus, after which he was admitted to MGMGH on Wednesday. As he already had renal problems, despite treatment, he died at 12.30 pm on Thursday.
His sudden demise has saddened the other farmers’ leaders.
Aylai Sivasuriyan, leader of Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, said “He never missed a farmers’ grievances meeting conducted monthly by the district collector. He used to come with petitions with detailed demands that required the officials' interventions. Also, he took part in all the protests meant for farmers’ rights and to wind over Tamil Nadu’s rights over the Cauvery river. He always had an interest over the Cauvery-Vaigai-Gundaru river linking project.”
On Thursday evening, farmers and TMC cadre organized a memorial for Puliyur Nagarajan in a city hotel. In this event, all the farmers’ leaders shared their accounts on Puliyur Nagarajan’s contributions towards the welfare of farmers.
Farmers’ leader P Ayyakannu said “He always stood up for farmers’ rights and always found it right to intervene and help the farming community whenever they faced distress. He had also personally helped many farmers.”