CHENNAI: Terming the Kuruvai package announcement by the DMK government as "political drama", AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday said the sanctioned amount of Rs 78.67 crore will not fulfill the Delta farmer's requirements.
Claiming that the DMK government could not secure the Cauvery water in 2023-2024 from the neighbouring Karnataka, the former chief minister, in a statement, said that "the Delta farmers staging protests since the government had not taken any steps to secure water this year's (2024-2025) May and June share."
"Since there was no electricity deficit in our regime, 24 hours power supply was given to Delta farmers in three phase current", he said adding "similarly, to use the water wisely, we have distributed plastic bags to them besides providing an insurance scheme".
Stating that the DMK government should have announced "Kuruvai" package after analysing the current requirement of farmers, Palaniswami said "in that package, it was announced that most of the funds would go for subsidy for paddy and for National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme. If there is no water, how come the farmers would buy the paddy and cultivate it".
Palaniswami claimed that during the AIADMK regime when water scarcity was there, the state government ensured farmers' welfare by fully implementing the crop insurance scheme.
"However, this DMK government has not implemented an insurance scheme for Kuruvai cultivation", he alleged. "Therefore, this Kuruvai package will not alleviate the sufferings of the Delta farmers", Palaniswami said.