Kerala - Alappuzha   

Protest against failure to implement farm package

ALAPPUZHA: The Kuttanad Vikasana Samithi (KVS), an Alappuzha-based farmers’ forum led by a priest, is once again threatening to bring together farmers for a mass agitation, this time alleging that it is the State government’s inefficiency that has led to the delay in implementation of the M.S. Swaminathan Commission’s report on development of Kuttanad.

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, KVS executive director Fr. Thomas Peelianickal said the Kuttanad Package, evolved on the basis of the Swaminathan Commission’s report, was approved by the Union Agriculture Ministry on September 26, after which the Union government had asked for a detailed project from the State government. However, the project was submitted 45 days after the specified time.

Moreover, several significant suggestions in Mr. Swaminathan’s report were not included in the State government’s project, Fr. Peelianickal alleged.

Demanding that the full form of the Swaminathan Commission’s report and the State government’s project be made available to the public, Fr. Peelianickal said Agriculture Minister Mullakara Ratnakaran’s reported statement that the Union Cabinet was yet to approve a package that had already been approved by the Union Agriculture Ministry smacked of political overtones.

The State Government, keeping aside political affiliations, should apply pressure on the Union government to get approval for the package at the earliest, he said, saying that memoranda would soon be submitted on the issue to the Prime Minister, Union Agriculture Minister and the Kerala Chief Minister.

The Samithi would also gather farmers for a mass agitation if steps were not taken for implementation of the package in the forthcoming financial year, he added.

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