At the farmers meet held today, farmers from the District of Coimbatore participated and discussed about the pressing issues faced by the farmers and the misappropriations in the subsidies granted to them.
Balu, President of the farmers association and Kandasamy, Secretary presided the meeting. While addressing the press, Kandasamy shared that the meeting was organised to pass various resolutions for the welfare of the farmers. He revealed that 14% from the subsidy allotted to the farmers should be paid as premium to ICICI bank, towards crop insurance. For instance, if a farmer avails a subsidy of 3 lakhs, a premium of 42,000 should be paid to ICICI as insurance premium, he said.
'We are awaiting reply from the Prime Minister, for the letters drafted by Tamil Nadu, CM, regarding the Siruvani dam issue. The negligence of the TN offcials for not responding to the letters sent by Kerala Government, is highly condemnable. If the issue is not settled amicably, the farmers' union would file a judicial suit, seeking justice' he said.
'In case, the farmer claims for insurance, the Central Government has proposed a norm saying, only if the entire village/taluk is affected with similar losses, the farmers would be compensated. Hence, part of the subsidy is forcibly surrendered to Private Corporates in the name of insurance. We have been fighting hard against the mishandling of the subsidies by the Government officials, the issue should be addressed by the Government and ensure subsidies reach the farmers in full' he said.
