Kerala - Kochi   

Fair deal for ryots sought

KOCHI: Kerala Congress (M) leader K.M. Mani, MLA, has said that the State government should take steps to present the real picture of the damage caused by the summer rain in the State when the Central team comes here for assessment.

Addressing the media here on Wednesday, Mr. Mani said the Union government should relax the criteria for evaluating drought/flood damages, taking into account the special condition of the State.

Both the Union and State governments should revise the compensation given to paddy farmers. The State government should not wait for the Central team to complete the procedures to release compensation, but release interim assistance to the affected farmers. It is embarrassing to approach the Central team when the State has done nothing to help those affected by natural calamities.

Similarly, criminal negligence on the part of the State government has led to a situation where there are not enough harvesters in Kuttanad. The M.S. Swaminathan Commission report submitted six months ago suggested that 300 harvesters be made available to Kuttanad. Not only did the State government ignore it, but Left trade unions did not even allow the machines to be brought in. They have been using muscle and police power to prevent employing of harvesters and this has worsened the crisis, he said.

A special protection package should be evolved by both governments for coconut farmers as the price of coconut oil is expected to fall with the removal of the 20 per cent import duty for crude edible oils and reduction of duty for processed edible oil from 27.5 per cent to 7.5 per cent. The State government should take initiatives in this regard, he said.

Mr. Mani said it was condemnable that a situation had evolved wherein more than 25 per cent of the annual Plan funds for 2007-08 remained unutilised. This shows the inefficiency of the Finance Department.

The carry-forward system which provides for another three months to utilise unspent funds will affect the efficiency of the system, he added.

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