The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Ryots betrayed, says Chandy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 29, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Ryots betrayed, says Chandy

Special Correspondent

Alleges delay in releasing funds

Oommen Chandy says the government owes Rs.60 crore to farmers.

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy on Saturday alleged that the government had betrayed farmers by failing to release Rs.60 crore it owed to them on account of paddy procurement.

In a letter to Food Minister C.Divakaran, Mr. Chandy said that the government’s procurement commitment came to Rs.17 crore in Palakkad district, Rs.7 crore in Kottayam and Rs.35 crore in Alappuzha.

Terming the delay in releasing the funds cruel, Mr. Chandy said the farmers were reeling under the crisis faced by the agriculture sector. In addition to this, farming families had to incur expenses in the backdrop of the start of a new academic year.

It was unfortunate that the government had not released the amounts months after procuring paddy.

Farmers had to face one of the worst crises in recent years, facing drought and flood conditions one after the other.

They had not got the compensation amount owing to loss of crop. Those who took loans to carry on cultivation were now being pushed further into poverty.

Raises charge

The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee-sponsored Sahakarana Janadhipathiya Vedi (Cooperative Democratic Platform) on Saturday flayed the government for ‘lack of transparency’ in implementing the Centre’s farm loan waiver scheme.

In a statement here at the end of its State committee meeting, the Vedi said that a large number of ineligible persons had been included on the list of beneficiaries.

At many places, the management of the cooperative societies themselves had taken the lead to manipulate the list. In the light of disclosures of this malpractice, several cooperative societies were trying to wriggle out of the situation by initiating action against their employees.

Norms flouted

Many cooperative societies were not following the guidelines issued for the loan waiver scheme and this included the publication of the list of eligible beneficiaries.

The guidelines also made it mandatory for the cooperative societies to individually inform the beneficiaries about their eligibility for the scheme along with a copy of the Prime Minister’s letter.

The Vedi suspected that there was a pre-meditated attempt to propagate that it was a State-sponsored scheme. If the government failed to take corrective steps, the Vedi said it would launch an agitation to focus public attention.

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

Kerala