TIRUCHY: Farmers from Tiruvarur on Thursday staged a roadblock protest across the district at several locations demanding a crop damage compensation of Rs 35,000 per acre.
The farmers across the Delta region have been insisting on conducting a fair assessment of the crop damage due to the Ditwah cyclone and the northeast monsoon rains that lashed across the region.
The farmers said that around 2 lakh acres of paddy were damaged and demanded a survey of every revenue village.Accordingly, the officials commenced assessment with a digital survey method.
However, the farmers said that the digital survey was not proper and feared that it would have missed several thousand acres of damaged crops, and the respective farmers would lose the benefit
Meanwhile, the state government announced a compensation of Rs 20,000 per hectare and this created unrest among the farmers.
They said that they had spent at least Rs 35,000 per acre, and so the government should disburse Rs 35,000 per acre as compensation, which would help farmers overcome the loss.
Insisting that the government disburse higher compensation, the farmers from the region staged a series of protests.
On Thursday, the farmers from Tiruvarur blocked roads in Tiruvarur town, Nannilam, Kudavasal, Valangaiman, Kodaracherri and Needamangalam. They demanded withdrawal of digital survey.
The farmer leaders who presided over the protests in respective places detailed the crop damage and explained the requirement of actual compensation.