Kerala - Alappuzha   

Kuttanad ryots readying for stir

ALAPPUZHA: Farmers in Kuttanad are readying for yet another agitation, this time demanding immediate Central Government approval for the Rs.1, 840-crore Kuttanad Package recommended by the M.S. Swaminathan Commission.

Kuttanad Vikasana Samithy, a farmers’ organisation, is in the forefront of the agitation. As many as 10,001 farmers from Kuttanad will fax memoranda to Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi from May 15 onwards, Samithy’s executive director Fr. Thomas Peelianickal told a press conference here on Monday.

“The Kuttanad Package, which was approved by the Union Agriculture Ministry and forwarded to the Union Cabinet for approval, is stuck because of the opposition raised by Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz. Mr. Soz has objected the package as nearly Rs.1,400 crore for the package will have to be met by his ministry, and that too from the budget already allocated to the ministry. Moreover, he is learnt to be unhappy as the Union Agriculture Ministry had not consulted him or his ministry before giving approval to the package,” Fr. Peelianickal said, quoting State Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran and Alappuzha MP K.S. Manoj.

“Mr. Premachandran said he would be meeting officials of the Union Agriculture Ministry on May 29 seeking speedy approval of the package. In the meantime, the State Government will have to pressurise the Centre to sort out the issue. We are contacting Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy, Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi to talk to Ms. Gandhi so that the Water Resources Ministry’s worries are sorted out before May 31,” he said.

Farmers in Kuttanad, who had earlier conducted protest marches and dharnas demanding approval for the package from the Union government, had also sent thousands of letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, listing out their worries and how the Swaminathan Package could come as a relief to them. “If there is no improvement after the memoranda are faxed to Ms. Gandhi, we will intensify the agitation,” Fr. Peelianickal added.

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