TIRUCHY: Cauvery Delta farmers have demanded conduct of the mandatory tripartite meeting and the samba procurement policy for the year, as samba harvest has already commenced.
According to Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Cauvery Farmers Protection Association, the state government would convene a tripartite meeting comprising of the elected members-especially the ministers-agriculture officials and the farmers and thereby declare the procurement policy for samba of the season.
“The meeting for the samba procurement used to be held in the month of December ahead of the samba harvest. This year, due to the floods across the state, the meeting was not convened. But the harvest has commenced from the first week of January and the delay in convening the meeting is raising concerns among the farmers”, he said.
Vimalnathan also said that private firms have already commenced the samba procurement and delay in convening the meeting would affect the farmers adversely. “Even if the ministers are busy with their political commitments as the elections are fast approaching, it is essential that the officials from the agricultural department come forward to convene a meeting with the farmers. We have a series of information to share in the meeting before arriving at a conclusion on the procurement policy”, he said.