Farmers protest, claim delay at DPCs continues even after Minister's visit
Farmers from Orathanadu have been keeping their harvested kuruvai paddy stocks in front of the DPCs for more than 20 days for the procurement process to continue.
Off-loaded paddy at one of the DPCs
TIRUCHY: Farmers from Thanjavur staged a road block protest claiming that the delay in procurement continued in the DPCs even after the visit of the minister for food in the region.
According to the protesting farmers from Orathanadu, they have been keeping their harvested kuruvai paddy stocks in front of the DPCs for more than 20 days for the procurement process to continue.
The paddy stocks have spread to a distance of 2km in Orathanadu, and most of them were waiting for their turn.
They pointed out that the State Food Minister R Sakkarapani visited Thanjavur on October 9 and promised the farmers to rectify the issues in the DPCs and ordered the staff to accelerate the procurement. He asked the DPCs to procure 1,000 bags per day each, but the staff have failed to adhere even to the minister and continued to procure at snail’s pace, procuring less than 1,000 bags per day.
The frustrated farmers, headed by the CPM Orathanadu Union Secretary Govindaraj, blocked the vehicle movement at Orathanadu-Pudur Main Road and raised slogans in support of their demand.
On information, the Orathanadu Tahsildar Yuvaraj, along with the police, rushed to the spot and held talks with the agitating farmers. Upon assurance by the officials of procuring a minimum of 1,000 bags per day in each DPC, they withdrew the protest. Traffic was affected on the Thanjavur-Pattukkottai Main Road for more than 2 hours.
