Chennai, Jun 18 (PTI) Accusing bureaucrats of “misleading” Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on crop loan waivers, the Tamil Nadu All Farmers’ Association on Thursday announced a state-wide hunger strike on June 30.
The strike is to press for a complete, acreage-based loan waiver and a paddy procurement price of Rs 3,500 per quintal.
The resolution was passed during a consultative meeting of the association’s Chennai zonal executives, comprising office-bearers from Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur, Ranipet and Tiruvannamalai districts.
Association representatives said the ruling TVK government, led by Vijay, had promised a 100 per cent loan waiver for small and marginal farmers and a 50 per cent waiver for large farmers in its election manifesto.
However, they alleged that the government’s subsequent implementation has relied on monetary caps rather than land holdings, creating widespread discontent among the farming community.
Farmers’ leader P R Pandian pointed out that the initial announcement capped waivers at Rs 50,000, which was later revised to Rs 75,000 following protests, with a nominal Rs 35,000 waiver for large farmers.
The association argued that this amount-based calculation directly violates the established policies of the Central Government, the Reserve Bank of India and NABARD.
Under existing national guidelines, waivers should be determined by acreage — up to 2.5 acres for marginal farmers and up to 5 acres for small farmers.
The farmers alleged that officials are intentionally restricting the government from implementing a complete waiver as per these national norms.
Raising alarms over a severe paddy procurement bottleneck, the farmers alleged that paddy procured over the last nine months — spanning the previous Kuruvai and Samba seasons — is lying unmilled in open yards and procurement centres.
With millers reportedly refusing to process the aged, discoloured grain and a persistent shortage of transport logistics, the association warned of an impending crisis as the monsoon approaches.
They urged the CM to immediately convene a high-level meeting involving the Food Minister and Civil Supplies officials to resolve the logjam before the upcoming Kuruvai harvest in the delta region.
The farmers demanded the immediate repeal of the Tamil Nadu Land Consolidation (for Special Projects) Act, 2023, introduced by the previous DMK government, which they blamed for widespread corporate land acquisition.
They sought state intervention with the Centre to curb skyrocketing fertiliser prices and stop the mandatory linking of secondary products to urea and DAP sales by private distributors.
The June 30 hunger strike will see participation from farmers across all 38 districts, Pandian said. PTI JR SSK
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