Farmers protest in Trichy demanding loan waiver, govt assures action

Trichy: Hundreds of farmers from various associations in Tamil Nadu held a protest at Samayapuram near Trichy on Thursday, demanding a complete waiver of cooperative crop loans. They withdrew the agitation after the state government assured that their demands would be considered following a meeting held in Chennai.The protest resumed after five days of agitation in September, during which ministers had held talks with the associations and sought 20 days to examine the feasibility of a full loan waiver.With no significant progress on those assurances, farmers began gathering in large numbers at Samayapuram on Thursday. Police were deployed in strength as the protesters occupied the national highway.Initially, police attempted to pacify the farmers. However, as they were firm on protesting, police arrested the farmers by force and took them to a private hall. During detention, the protesters refused the food served by the police and insisted on talks specifically on the crop loan waiver. Meanwhile, police began stopping vehicles carrying groups of farmers at important points to prevent them from arriving in Samayapuram.Later in the evening, a group of ministers - Aadhav Arjuna (public works), N Anand (water resources), K A Sengottaiyan (revenue), M Vijay Balaji (handlooms), V Gandhiraj (cooperatives), R Vinoth (agriculture), S Ramesh (HR&CE) - and secretaries from various departments met representatives of the farmers’ associations at the Secretariat in Chennai.The ministers discussed the farmers’ grievances in detail and explained that government was already facing a fund crunch. They nonetheless assured that they would improve upon the last crop loan waiver announcement and that the details of the meeting would be immediately placed before chief minister C Joseph Vijay for appropriate action.Accepting the assurances, farmers in Trichy withdrew their protest.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Trichy | Silver Rate in Trichy | Bank Holidays in Trichy | Public Holidays in TrichyStay updated with the latest Trichy news. Download the TOI App.