Govt’s inefficiency led to tearful Deepavali for Delta farmers: EPS

TIRUCHY: The inefficiency of the DMK government resulted in a tearful Deepavali for the Delta farmers as their harvested paddy had started sprouting due to procurement delay in the DPCs, said AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of Opposition Party Edappadi (LoP) K Palaniswami on Wednesday. “This is a testimony of a total failure of the state government,” he added.

Inspecting the rain-hit Delta region and consoling farmers whose harvested paddy stocks had been damaged in Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, and Nagapattinam, Edappadi Palaniswami informed media persons that the harvested kuruvai, the fruit of farmers' hard work, had been waiting for more than 20 days for procurement. The monsoon rains that lashed across the region had further damaged the unprocured paddy. In certain areas, the paddy stocks have also begun to sprout.

“In Thanjavur, around 6,000 paddy bags that had been procured were stocked in the godown, while 4,000 bags of paddy had been kept outside the DPC in Kattur, in which a few bags of paddy started sprouting. In Tiruvarur 8,000 bags are kept in the godown, and 7,500 bags are kept in the open air for procurement. The procured paddy had not been transported to the warehouses, and who is responsible for all these?” he asked.

Stating that the AIADMK government had procured 1,000 bags per day in each DPC, EPS said the DMK government has been procuring not more than 800 bags per day. “But the concerned minister says that the DPCs procure 2,000 bags per day, and this is an utter lie, and the farmers know the fact. If they had procured 2,000 bags per day, there would not be such huge stocks outside the DPCs. The farmers had been lamenting over the failure in the prompt procurement, and it is a total failure of the DMK government,” said Palaniswami.

The AIADMK government had procured paddy with the moisture condition between 17 per cent and 22 per cent, but the DMK government blamed the union government for sticking to the moisture condition.

“It is the duty of the state government to obtain prior permission for procurement of paddy with the moisture condition up to 22 per cent,” he said.

Meanwhile, the LoP said that the union government had granted permission for the supply of fortified rice on August 18, but the minister has been making false information on the Assembly floor that the permission had not been granted so far by the union government.

“The minister himself has been spreading false information,” he said further.

He also stated that the freight services for paddy movement have not been planned properly. He said that there are complaints about improper payment for the loan men as well as for the lorry services. “The loadmen say that there are fewer lorries for transportation, but the lorry owners complain that they do not even receive money for the diesel, and this is an anti-farmer activity of the DMK government,” EPS said.

He asked the state government to enumerate the damage of paddy in the Delta region and asked for compensation and procure paddy on a war footing manner for the welfare of the farmers, added Edappadi Palaniswami.