CHENNAI: Agriculture Minister M R K Panneerselvam on Wednesday said paddy crops in over 16,000 hectares have become submerged in rainwater across Tamil Nadu. Once the rainwater recedes, an assessment of damage will be done, and if the damage is above 33%, the government will make arrangements for providing compensation to the farmers, he added.
The minister said this during a presser at the secretariat in Chennai. Meanwhile, reports from across the state revealed that in all, paddy crops in 15 districts — Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai, Theni, Tiruvallur, Ramanathapuram, Tirunelveli, Tenkasi, Kanniyakumari, Ariyalur, Vellore, Ranipet and Dharmapuri districts were inundated.
“The meteorological department has predicted further rainfall in many districts in the next few days. Considering this and since the enumeration is going on, definitely, the extent of inundation will go up,” district officials told TNIE. As per the enumeration completed so far, kuruvai crops in over 5,000 hectares, ready for harvest, are under water, and the rest are 20 to 30-day-old Samba crops. There are no reports about damages caused to horticultural crops since there have been no heavy winds so far.
When asked about allegations levelled by AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami regarding shortcomings in the procurement of paddy from farmers, minister Panneerselvam said, “He is making these claims as if they are true.”
On the question posed by Palaniswami as to why the government could not procure 2,000 paddy sacks per Direct Procurement Centre (DPC), the minister said, “During his tenure as the CM, per DPC, 600 to 700 paddy sacks were procured per day. Contrary to this, the DMK government has directed the procurement of 1,000 paddy sacks per DPC daily.
During the previous regime, everyone knew that while waiting for procurement, paddy sacks were left out so long that the grains had sprouted to the extent of being fit for transplantation. Now, due to sudden rain, a few grains have merely sprouted slightly in certain places — yet the opposition leader is exaggerating it.”
Regarding the charge that the state government has failed to make arrangements for procuring the paddy proportionate to the 13-fold increase in Kuruvai paddy production this year, Panneerselvam said that after the DMK government assumed office, paddy sacks are not allowed to be kept in open places. Instead, they are being kept in sugar mill and agriculture marketing committee godowns.
Questioned on what difficulties the government faces in procuring 2,000 sacks of paddy per day, the minister said, “We need manpower including weighmen and space for keeping the paddy sacks procured.”
“In the past, private parties used to procure paddy. Now, it is not happening since the government is paying higher than private players. Also, the previous AIADMK regime had failed to construct godowns and as a result, the farmers are suffering.
Now, after the tender process, construction works are going on. Steps are being taken to protect the paddy sacks waiting for procurement on a war footing,” the minister added.
