Farmers protest late arrival of Collector at Chengalpattu grievance meeting over unpaid rice dues

CHENNAI: The farmers were upset as the Chengalpattu District Collector and Senior Revenue officials turned up late for the grievance meeting.

The grievance meeting was scheduled in the Chengalpattu collectorate on Monday morning. The Collector, District Revenue Officer (DRO), and Regional Transport Officer (RTO) were not present at the meeting, but only a few revenue department officials were available to receive petitions from the public.

Frustrated by the absence of senior officials, farmers decided to wait inside the hall till the collector arrived. They were not willing to hand over petitions to any officials, but to the Collector. This led to heated arguments between the farmers and the staff who were in the office. Later, it was announced that the collector would arrive soon, and farmers were asked to wait patiently.

At around 11:30 am, the District Collector Arun Raj arrived. Then the farmers immediately handed over their petitions and explained that they had yet to receive payment for the paddy which was supplied.

The Collector listened to their concerns and immediately directed the agriculture department officials to ensure that the pending payments were made without any further delay. Following this, the farmers expressed satisfaction and left the meeting.