Kerala   

Paddy fields Bill farmer-friendly: VS

ALATHUR (PALAKKAD): Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has said the government will hold more discussions with farmers’ organisations before passing the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Fields and Wetlands Bill, 2007 ``to make it more farmer-friendly.

Talking to the representatives of the Dhesheeya Karshaka Samajam led by its president Karshakottaman Polpully Vasudevan and general secretary Mothalamthode Mani here on Sunday, the Chief Minister said he would call a meeting of the Ministers concerned, officials and farmers shortly to discuss the amendments proposed by the farmers. This would remove the anxiety and apprehensions of the farmers on some of the penal provisions of the Bill.

The Chief Minister said the Bill was not aimed to punish the farmers but to help them retain paddy cultivation and take action against the `land mafia who bought large tracks of paddy fields and converted them for real estate business. But this `mafia gang’ was engaged in a campaign against the government and the Bill terming it as ‘anti-farmer’. They are using the sentiments of the farmers to turn them against the government and defeat the very purpose of the Bill. He appealed to the farming community not to fall into this trap.

The Chief Minister asked the farmers to submit their proposals for any amendment that was required in the Bill before it was passed in the Assembly. The farmers wanted the government to remove the provision to take criminal action against them if they kept the land vacant and failed to cultivate due to some major reasons. The farmers’ delegation told the Chief Minister that people were leaving paddy cultivation because it was a losing proposition. To retain them in it, the government should meet half the production cost.

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