The Hindu : Kerala News : Kuttanad headed for crisis: Chandy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 31, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Kerala

Kerala

Kuttanad headed for crisis: Chandy

Special Correspondent

Thiruvananathapuram: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy on Sunday warned the government that Kuttanad was heading to a major crisis owing to the lack of farm workers or harvesters.

In a statement here, Mr. Chandy said the government had failed to keep its promise that it would induct more machines to complete harvesting. He said that paddy ripe for harvesting continued to lie in the fields despite favourable climate.

Reacting to the farmers’ road blockade, Mr. Chandy said it was a spontaneous reaction to the government’s failure. He said that if the paddy was not harvested within the next two weeks, it would be a further set back to the farmers as the procurement agencies would not lift sprouted paddy.

He suspected that the government was retracting from its promise of procurement of the entire paddy in the Kuttanad belt. The farmers were losing their confidence. He drew the attention of the government to the shortage of farm workers in Palakkad, Thrissur, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts. Harvesters were not available in these districts, he said and demanded urgent action by the government.

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

Kerala