Ryots seethe as officials dump soil on samba crops in Tiruvaiyaru

TIRUCHY: Tension prevailed for a while after an argument erupted between famers and police when their cultivated land was closed by dumping of sand for Perambalur-Manamadurai bypass project on Friday in Tiruvaiyaru.

Sources said that samba cultivation was under way across the Delta and the highways department has been laying roads across the farmlands. This was strongly opposed by farmers, who have been staging a series of protests to spare the cultivation and redesign the road after clearing encroachments on the existing stretch.

However, without any response to the demands of the farmers, the highways department went on with their project.

On Friday, while the farmers were on with their regular work, officials came with heavy vehicles and red-sand and started filling paddy fields, which had samba nurseries. This prompted an altercation between farmers and officials.

The farmers showed black flags to the officials by opposing the road project along with the cultivation.

On information, a police team led by DSP (Tiruvaiyaru) Rajmohan went to the spot and held talks with the farmers. The farmers appealed to the police to wait until the samba harvest was over. However, the police threatened them with arrest for preventing the officials from discharging their duties. Subsequently, the farmers went back from the field.