Ryots block road flaying delay in paddy purchase

TIRUVANNAMALAI: Traffic on the Kalasapakkam Road was affected for more than an hour following irate farmers staging a road block condemning delayed procurement of paddy, on Tuesday. Stating that their loads already brought to the direct purchase centre at Mottur was not being procured immediately, about 50 farmers blocked the road with paddy bags. Kalasapakkam police rushed to the spot and held talks with the agitating farmers. DPC officials said that the problem was due to heavy influx of farmers from Kalasapakkam wanting to offload their produce at the DPC. However, this was affected as a sizeable number of farmers from Polur also wanted to hand over their paddy to this DPC. This resulted in local farmers being given preference resulting in agitated Polur farmers staging the blockade. The agitation was dropped following officials assuring Polur farmers that their loads would also be accepted forthwith. Meanwhile, Polur AIADMK MLA and former minister Agri SS Krishnamurthy inaugurated a new DPC at Belasur near Polur to meet the needs of local farmers.