Tamil Nadu: Paddy starts to sprout due to procurement delay, farmers protest
The protesting farmers said that there are several issues, including a shortage of gunny bags, a manpower shortage and transportation delay in almost all the DPCs across the state, particularly in Thanjavur.
Farmers protest with sprouted paddy on Thanjavur Mannargudi Road on Thursday
TIRUCHY: As the procurement process in DPCs was delayed for more than 15 days, the paddy has started to sprout, angering the farmers, who staged a protest by dumping the sprouted paddy on the road in Thanjavur on Thursday.
The protesting farmers said that there are several issues, including a shortage of gunny bags, a manpower shortage and transportation delay in almost all the DPCs across the state, particularly in Thanjavur.
This apart, the procured paddy stocks are not moved from the DPCs to the godowns, due to which the farmers have been piling up the paddy in front of the centres.
Against such a backdrop, the stagnated stocks in front of the Kattur DPC in Thanjavur got drenched in sudden rains, and in due course of time, it started to sprout.
Irate farmers from the area, particularly from Kattur and Nayakkarkottai, carried the sprouted stocks and staged a road block protest at Thanjavur-Mannargudi Highway and dumped the paddy on the road, resulting in a traffic snarl on the highway.
On information, the TNCSC officials, along with the police, rushed to the spot and held talks with the agitating farmers and assured them of prompt procurement.
As per their promise, the officials arranged lorries to transport the procured paddy to the godown and started the procurement of paddy from the farmers. Subsequently, the farmers withdrew their protest. Traffic was affected for more than two hours on the Mannargudi- Thanjavur highway.
