Farmers in Tamil Nadu’s Trichy on Monday staged a protest demanding compensation for their short-term crops. The farmers, belonging to the National South Indian River Interlinking Agriculturists' Association staged the protest with human bones as they demanded proper compensation for the Kuruvai or short-term crops. They claimed that they were being paid less for their crops than what was promised to them by the Centre, as per a PTI report.
Farmers in Thanjavur have reportedly blocked roads to demand immediate release of Cauvery water from Karnataka earlier today.
“For the last 54 days we have been sitting here because the central government has not given a profitable price for us,” one of the protesting farmers told news agency PTI.
On Saturday, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami called upon the Tamil Nadu government to provide a relief of Rs 35,000 per acre to farmers who suffered crop loss during the Kuruvai (short duration) cultivation season.
He also demanded the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam dispensation to accept pleas by farmers and declare those districts as drought-hit which received deficit rainfall during the southwest monsoon.
Palaniswami said the paddy crop raised on about 3.50 lakh acres was affected as the release of water from the Mettur dam on June 12 could not be sustained upto September 15, as water from the neighbouring Karnataka did not reach Mettur.
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The protest takes place amid the ongoing row over Cauvery river water sharing dispute between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to intervene in the plea filed against Cauvery Water Management Authority’s (CWMA) order to release 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for 15 days with effect from September 13.
On Sunday, farmers here staged protest demanding release of water while farmers in Karnataka’s Mandya agitated to stop release of water to neighbouring Tamil Nadu.