End wild animal menace, demand ryots

Farmers poured their heart out about the numerous man-animal conflict at the farmers grievance meeting, that was held at the Madurai Collectorate. They pointed out that water scarcity had driven the animals towards the villages and this had led to destruction of crops.

A farmer, Gopalakrishnan from Sambiranipatti near Alagarkovil, claimed that villages such as Chellapanayakanur and Kidaripatti were largely affected by wild buffaloes. These animals used to frequent the farm lands from the nearby forest in Dindigul district and cause destruction. They used to camp in the villages regularly in the nights and damage crops. Their presence is a threat to farmers. 

Particularly Chellappanayakanur is worst affected as it is located in the border of Madurai and Dindigul districts. Getting compensation from the Forest Department for the damaged crops becomes tedious, said Gopalakrishnan. Similarly, farmers also spoke at length about wild boars attack. Jeyapandi, from Peraiyur, said his district was affected largely in the recent drought. 

Adding to the woes the activities of wild boars had increased manifold in the villages neighbouring Peraiyur. Due to the lack of water in the forests the animals come to the villages and destroy crops. They retaliate when farmers try to chase them, informed Jeyapandi. 

Other farmers from Peraiyur taluk seconded the claims of Jeyapandi. They demanded the administration and the Forest Department to exempt them from arrest for shooting the wild boars. They pointed out that recently two farmers were arrested for shooting a wild boar which had destroyed crops and had also tried to attack the farmers. 

In such cases the farmers should not be arrested demanded farmers. Farmers of Madurai district demanded compensation for uncultivated lands claiming that they would be forced to give up on farming if not. 

Madurai Collector, K Veera Raghav Rao, replied that in total 38,675 hectares were cultivated in 2016 and out of that 37,576 acres had been completely affected by drought. 89, 830 farmers in 618 revenue villages were affected due to the drought. 

Usually in Samba cultivation close to 80,000 hectares would be cultivated but only less than 40,000 hectares were cultivated. It is true that more than 50 percentage of the lands were uncultivated but is up to the state government to provide compensation for the farmers who had not cultivated in 2016. But he would definitely send his recommendation to the government.