Chennai, 15 December (H.S.) : Farmers in the Cauvery Delta region have urgently appealed to the government to declare the entire area a natural disaster-hit region following the devastating rains. Their crops, which were submerged by rainwater at either the nursery or milking stage, have been completely lost.

To mitigate the financial ruin, the farmers are also demanding that the state government waive all crop loans they had availed from Primary Cooperative Credit Societies and public sector banks.

Swamimalai Sundara Vimalnathan, Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Cauvery Delta Farmers Protection Association, stated that a significant percentage of farmers had availed crop loans before cultivation, and with the entire crop now destroyed, the government should write off these loans.

He asserted that the Delta region should be officially declared disaster-hit because the loss occurred after Cyclone Ditwah, which qualifies for pre-harvesting compensation under the guidelines of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for crops damaged by natural calamity.

Vimalnathan also appealed for the compensation amounts to be directly deposited into the accounts of the affected farmers for maximum benefit. Furthermore, he urged the Union government to deploy an assessment committee promptly to ensure fast enumeration of losses and the subsequent timely release of the necessary compensation.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Dr. R. B. Chaudhary