The Tamil Nadu Vivasaya Sangankalin Kootiyakkam has urged the government to fully waive the cooperative farm loans of farmers, based on their land holdings without any ceiling on the loan amount.

The federation maintained that Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay had failed to come out with a clear announcement on the farm loan waiver in his address at a public meeting in Tiruchi on Monday.

“Usually, crop loan waiver would be offered only based on the extent of land holding of farmers. For the first time, the waiver was announced with a ceiling on the credit amount to be waived. But the expenditure incurred for cultivation of various crops differ and fixing a ceiling of ₹50,000 for waiver is inherently wrong. The government should immediately remove this norm and go by the extent of land holding and fully waive all cooperative farm loans. As per Cooperative Act, farmers with land holdings of up to five acres are categorised as small farmers and even if they had taken a farm loan of ₹2 lakh, the loans should be fully waived,” the federation president Cauvery Dhanapalan, who presided over the meeting, said.

Mekedatu plan

Expressing concern over the Karnataka move to build a balancing reservoir across the River Cauvery at Mekedatu, the meeting said farmers of the delta were ready to approach the Supreme Court directly against the move as the court had rejected the Tamil Nadu’s review petition on the issue recently. “The State government should support us by adopting a resolution in the Assembly,” Mr. Dhanapalan said.

The federation urged the government to integrate the Agriculture, Horticulture, Agricultural Engineering, Agricultural Marketing and Agri Business and ensure the deployment of an extension worker for every two villages.

A delegation of leaders of 10 farmers organisations would soon try to meet the Chief Minister to discuss the issues, The federation would launch a protest if the government did not agree to these demands, Mr. Dhanapalan said.

Senior farmers leaders, including Mahadhanapuram V. Rajaram, president, Cauvery Irrigation Farmers’ Welfare Association; P. Ayyakannu, president, Desiya Thennidiya Nadhigal Inaippu Vivasayigal Sangam; and G.S. Dhanapathy, State General Secretary, Farmer’s Forum of India, attended the meeting, according to Mr. Dhanapalan.