The Hindu : Kerala News : Paddy farmers protest against delay in deploying harvesters in Kuttanad

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Paddy farmers protest against delay in deploying harvesters in Kuttanad

Staff Reporter

Nearly 100 farmers block the Alappuzha-Changanassery road for three hours
Some of the farmers threaten to consume pesticide

ALAPPUZHA: Nearly 100 paddy farmers blocked the Alappuzha-Changanassery road for three hours on Sunday, alleging that the State government was delaying deployment of combine harvesters on their fields. These machines help to harvest the crop and carry out threshing.

The agitation began at around 3 p.m. when over 200 farmers gathered at the Kuttanad Taluk Office adjacent to the Rice Research Centre, Mankombu, for a meeting called by District Collector V.K. Balakrishnan to sort out problems delaying the harvest following the unexpected rain.

A few farmers raised slogans before the meeting began and moved to the road, demanding that the harvesters be brought immediately. By the time the Collector arrived at the venue, after accompanying Agriculture Minister Mullakara Ratnakaran to the house of Pushkaran, a paddy farmer who committed suicide on Saturday, the protest took the shape of a road blockade and brought traffic on the busy 24-km road to a halt.

Though Mr. Balakrishnan invited the protesters to the meeting, they refused to participate and continued the protest, demanding that the issue be sorted out on the road itself. Despite efforts by Revenue District Officer K.N. Raji; Superintendent of Police C.H. Nagaraju; and Ambalapuzha Circle Inspector C.K. Uthaman to make the farmers call off the agitation as the traffic jam grew in length, the farmers remained stubborn on their demand that the Collector speak to them directly. Some of them threatened to consume pesticide. One person poured pesticide on himself and said the next step would be consuming it. Another protester snatched the pesticide container from him and threw it away. Mr. Nagaraju said the fact that the agitators were farmers forced the police to exercise maximum restraint and avoid use of force to remove them. It was by 6 p.m. that the protest ended when the Collector came out of the meeting and assured the protesters that arrangements would be made for deploying more harvesters.

Nearly 25 machines will reach Kuttanad over the next two days and based on padasekharam lists at each Krishi Bhavan, they will be deployed to harvest the crop on a priority basis day and night, he said.

“The protest was uncalled for. The meeting was being held for their [farmers’] sake only,” Mr. Balakrishnan said. Not all of the protesters were farmers, he said.

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