Govt must provide relief for withered crops: Vellore ryots

Led by the association’s Vellore East district president Palleri Raja, the farmers demanded that district officials visit the various drought affected regions in the district and initiate action to provide compensation for the withered crops.

Claiming that officials were more bothered about elections, they said the government should ensure that residents of the district, especially farmers, were not affected by the current seasonal conditions.

Farmers called upon the sugar mills at Vellore, Ambur and Tirupattur to clear the pending dues to farmers, which had not been cleared for a long time.

“The Primary Agricultural Cooperative Banks (PACBs) should be used to provide cattle feed and fodder as our livestock lacked food due to the current drought,” they added.

The farmers also demanded that drinking water schemes meant mainly for urban centres now be extended to villages.

Citing the example of Alangyam panchayat union, farmers said that several villages were yet to be supplied with water despite pipelines being laid. The association condemned the practice of banks sending legal notices for non-payment of loan dues. “In the current drought conditions, the State and Central governments should waive all pending loans and provide fresh, interest-free loans to farmers,” the protesters demanded.