TIRUCHY: Distressed due to the devastating loss of over 10,000 acres of Kuruvai crops due to dwindling water levels in the Kollidam river and insufficient water supply required to operate borewells, the farmers from Ariyalur district demanded compensationof Rs 50,000 per acre here on Saturday.

The T-Pazhur union in Jayankondam, Ariyalur, is located on the banks of the Kollidam river, in which the farmers of around 10 villages, including Karuppur, Annakaranpettai, Edankanni, Cholamadevi, and Kandiyankollai, had cultivated around 10,000 acres of Kuruvai. While the nurseries raised and reached the flowering stage, the crops withered due to a water supply shortage.

“The entire 10 revenue villages are located on the banks of the Kollidam. We utilise water from the river and borewells for irrigation. Because the Kollidam river has little water this year, we opted for bore wells to irrigate the standing crops. However, the erratic power supply had affected the motor operations. Eventually, the crops started to dry," said Sundaramurthy, a farmer from Cholamadevi.

Highlighting that the people from the region experience power cuts at least 10 times a day, he said, “Uninterrupted power supply is required at least for eight hours each day for irrigation." He added that the cultivable lands in the villages like Karuppur, Cholamadevi and Edankanni have turned parched. As the entire kuruvai crop in these villages had dried up, the farmers had let cattle graze the paddy fields.

The farmers appealed to the state government to enumerate the crop loss and disburse a compensation of Rs 50,000 per acre. They warned that they would commence an indefinite protest if the government failed to take immediate action.