Encroachments, crop damage hot topics at farmers' grievance redressal meet in TN
MADURAI: Crop damage, availability of agriculture-related vehicles and encroachment of water bodies were among the major topics raised during the monthly agricultural grievances meeting held at the Madurai Collectorate on Friday.
Farmers sought measures to prevent animal intrusion on about 300 hectares of harvest-ready paddy in Thirumangalam, which was at risk of damage by wild boars.
Ahead of the meeting, senior agriculture officials stated that the district had been receiving excess rains for many months. Earlier, about 552.9 hectares witnessed crop damage, reports of which were sent to the government. Recently, rains caused crop damage in nearly six blocks in the district. Nearly 1,379 hectares of paddy suffered over 33% damage, while the damage to other crops such as cotton and maize is being calculated and inspections are underway.
During a question and answer session, several farmers raised concerns about encroachments of water bodies across Madurai. District Collector MS Sangeetha stated that according to the procedure, action is being taken to clear encroachments to aid farmers in carrying out agricultural work.
A farmer from Aritapatti village stated that his farm had collapsed during the rains, and sought compensation to fix his damaged well.
Replying to the farmers, officials from the agriculture, engineering and village panchayat departments stated there are no schemes to cover damage to farm ponds and wells.
Farmers also urged the district administration to send a proposal to the government to form a scheme to compensate for damages to farm ponds and wells due to natural disasters.
Further, farmers under the Gundar basin requested the Water Resources Department (WRD) to increase the water flow in canals to fill up irrigation tanks in the area. In response, the WRD officials stated that of the 35 ponds in the area, over 22 tanks had reached their full tank levels and the canal has a flow of 100 cusecs, which is directed to the tanks.
The district collector asked the officials to take measures to fill up the tanks. A farmer, Jayaprakash Narayanan, of Alanganallur, alleged that the offset canal from the Periyar channel, which irrigates over 150 hectares in Alanganallur, is polluted due to the flow of sewage. Despite submitting petitions for over three years, the issue remains unsolved.
During monsoon, the sewage water flows into the fields, the farmer alleged, adding that he had to spend more than `one lakh to strengthen a bund to prevent the inflow of sewage water.
He requested that treated water from the soon-to-be established treatment plant be released in the Sathaiyar channel to aid farmers and take necessary steps to prevent the channel from being polluted. The district collector then assured necessary action.
Later in the day, farmers from Peraiyur and Chellampatti stated that there were issues in wrapping up the harvest process as the harvest-ready crops were being damaged by wild boars in Chellampatti, and by elephants in Peraiyur. As there were no forest department officials during the meeting, the district collector assured of action.