TIRUCHY: A grievance redressal meeting at the Nagapattinam Collectorate on Tuesday turned into a protest as farmers staged a dharna against the non-disbursal of crop insurance claims for lost kuruvai, samba and cotton by insurance firms.
DRO V Bavananthi chaired the redressal meeting. As soon as the meeting commenced, a section of farmers commenced a sit-in protest, stating that the private insurance firm failed to release the crop insurance claims for both 2024-25 and 2025-26.
The shocked officials from the revenue and agriculture departments attempted to hold talks with the protesting farmers, but the farmers continued to stage the protest.
The farmers demanded that District Collector P Akash must personally hold talks with them and continued to raise slogans. After a few minutes of sloganeering, they walked out of the meeting hall.
Then, another group of farmers from Vedaranyam taluk entered the meeting hall with the poor-quality paddy seeds distributed to them and the failed crops.
But they were stopped by the police on duty, triggering an altercation between the police and the farmers. While the farmers from Vedaranyam were in an argument with the police, a section of farmers from Vedaranyam and Kizhvelur, who were present in the meeting hall, walked out raising slogans and demanding that the District Collector chair the grievances meet.
Subsequently, the protesting farmers raised slogans against the private insurance firm and demanded that insurance firms' licences be revoked.
Meanwhile, the farmers who were arguing with the police attempted to enter the meeting hall by force, but the police prevented them and detained them. They were taken to the wedding hall in Nagapattinam and later released in the evening.