TIRUCHY: Thanjavur District Collector ordered the issuance of memos to the officials of the agriculture department for their lethargic behaviour regarding the opening of the Agriculture Extension Centre after farmers raised the issue during the grievances redressal meet on Thursday.
The Farmers Grievances Redressal meet held in Thanjavur was chaired by the District Collector B Priyanka Pankajam. Pointing out the significant impact of the Electricity Amendment Bill on the free power supply, the farmers demanded that the Bill be withdrawn. They raised slogans and staged a walkout. However, they returned to the meeting hall and took part in it.
They demanded the release of water from Mettur for 15 more days till the end of February, as the thalady crops in the district have just started to mature, ensuring smooth samba and thalady cultivation.
In addition, they urged the government to convene a meeting with farmers before commencing the annual desilt works.
The farmers from Ganapathy Agraharam said that the newly constructed agriculture extension centre has yet to be opened and pointed out that the officials have attributed the delay to a file regarding the Centre approval pending with the Collector herself.
Responding to the issue, the Collector immediately denied that any such file was pending with her and stressed that the misinformation was spread among the farmers. When questioned, the Joint Director (Agriculture) Vidya and other officials failed to provide a proper response.
Following this, the Collector ordered the issuance of a memo to both the Joint Director and PA.
Similarly, the collector ordered a memo to the Executive Engineer of the Agriculture Engineering department, Sivaprakasam, for mishandling the tractor and harvester machines.