Farmers staged a novel protest blindfolding themselves and sporting a spot of limestone powder on one eye to “reflect the discrimination” shown against their fraternity in the State Budget at the grievances day meet here on Friday.
Another group of farmers staged a demonstration demanding a barrage across the Coleroon to feed specific areas of the district.
Members of the apolitical Tamilaga Vivasyigal Sangam led by district president R. Sukumaran and secretary D. Sakthivel came to the meeting with a black cloth wrapped around their eyes and ears but sported a white patch imitating the Tamil saying of “butter in one eye and calcium in the other” to show discrimination against farmers.
The protesters besieged District Collector N. Subbaiyan and other officials and demanded that the Union and State governments waive all crop loans of farmers in cooperative and scheduled banks, stop distraint proceedings launched for the recovery of the overdue credit, stop construction of reservoirs at Mekedatu, and direct sugar mills to pay Rs. 2,650 a tonne for sugarcane supplied by growers.
CPI(M)-affiliated Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam led by district secretary Samy Natarajan wanted the Centre to prevent Karnataka from building the Mekedatu reservoirs, drop the Land Acquisition Bill altogether, strengthen water sources in the district by allocating adequate funds, accord priority to dredge water bodies in the tail-end areas of Sethubavachatram, and Peravoorani.
Mr. Natarajan condemned the State budget saying that did not contain any worthy benefit to farmers such as higher support price for paddy and sugarcane.
President of Sugarcane Growers’ Association, Thozhagiripatti, P. Govindarajan, demanded uninterrupted supply of three-phase power for 20 hours a day for irrigation purposes. There was rampant and unscheduled power cuts in the district and that affected farming operations, he said.
Cauvery Farmers’ Protection Sangam’s P. Sukumaran and A. Ayyarappan demanded that the State government sanction and build a barrage across the Coleroon at Anaikudi near Tiruvaiyaru before embarking on the combined water supply project to feed Peravoorani and Adhirampattinam areas of the district that had the Coleroon as the source.
Over 50,000 acres of fertile land would be affected as the groundwater level would plummet in the target region because a huge quantum of sub surface water would be sucked out by three proposed pumping stations on the Coleroon bed.
To offset that at least 5,000 farmers in the affected region must be granted power pumpsets and connectivity to honour the promise of the then Chief Minister, they urged.
A. Thangavel, president of the Aycutdars’ Association, Orathanad, pointed out that more than 800 acres of land had been deprived of proper irrigation facilities in the Keezhakottai area of the district as the branch canal off the Cauvery Mettur Project Vadakadu channel remained silted up stifling any water flow. He urged the administration to take steps to dredge the branch canal.
