CHENNAI: Five lakh poor farmer families will benefit from the first phase of the scheme to provide treated wasteland to poor and landless farmers, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi informed the Assembly on Tuesday.

In a suo motu statement, the Chief Minister said the Revenue department had been carrying out the work of identifying wasteland for the past one month with the help of Village Administrative Officers. The first phase of the work was over he said.

The area of wasteland available for distribution and free of encroachments is 1.95 lakh acres.

In all, 98,000 small and medium farmers had encroached on 67,000 acres of government poromboke wasteland. As many as 4.25 lakh small farmers ha seven lakh acres of patta wasteland.

Mr. Karunanidhi said the Government had taken up the distribution of the 1.95 lakh acres at the rate of two acres for each farmer. It would treat the 67,000 acres and give it back to the farmers.

The small farmers had the option of handing over the wasteland to the Government for treatment. The Chief Minister said that poll promises would be implemented in phases, such as the distribution of free colour televisions to the poor who did not own one.

The first phase of distribution would be in September when 30,000 TV sets would be given to people residing in Samathuvapurams, two selected slum habitations in Chennai and to tribal families in the Nilgiris. For the second phase, an allocation of Rs. 750 crore was made in the budget.

Promises kept

Mr. Karunanidhi said that the Government had implemented many of the promises, including distribution of PDS rice at Rs. 2 a kg, loan waiver for farmers, marriage assistance scheme, free power to weavers, setting up of welfare boards for unorganised sector workers, reduction of fee for courses in colleges, making Tamil mandatory in schools and introduction of one more egg in the nutritious noon meal.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail