TIRUCHY: Condemning the government for failing to convene a tripartite meeting ahead of Samba procurement for the past three years, farmers from the Delta region staged a protest in Thanjavur on Tuesday.

As the harvest for samba and thaladi cultivation, which covers around 10 lakh acres across the region, is commencing in the first week of January, the farmers staged a protest demanding a tripartite meeting before procurement. They said that the meeting had not been convened for the past three years, and the farmers are not in a condition to air their grievances in terms of the procurement.

They pointed out that the last tripartite meeting was held in 2021-22, and thereafter, the officials were least bothered about the meeting, and so it was not convened. They said that they had faced severe loss during the kuruvai procurement period due to poor planning, and so they, in order to avoid this, demanded a tripartite meeting to solve problems during the procurement.

On Tuesday, the farmers gathered at the Kumbakonam RDO office and staged a protest with gunny bags. They demanded 75 kg of paddy instead of the conventional 40 kg so that the shortage of gunny bags would be resolved. They also demanded that the officials control the bribery menace at DPCs.