Chennai: Chief minister Jayalalithaa on Friday announced a slew of welfare measures for farmers including uninterrupted power supply for at least 12 hours a day, to help them reap a good harvest during kuruvai (short term) crop season at the cost of '32.95 crore to the state, a release said.
At a meeting held here to review the crop situation and plight of farmers ahead of the kuruvai season, chief minister Jayalalithaa announced that farmers would get three-phase uninterrupted power supply this year too as it has been the case during the past two years.
“Besides, over 7,000 farmers would receive 600 feet of HDPE pipes at 100 per cent subsidy to ensure that water does not get wasted while it is being transported from storage areas to farmlands,” the chief minister said.
Also, community nurseries will be set up to provide seedlings to farmers again under cent per cent subsidy to aid farmers in the Cauvery delta region utilise the water released from Cauvery river.
Some of the other subsidies announced by Jayalalithaa at the meeting include supply of farm machinery and equipment to 200 farmer groups under 100 per cent subsidy for at least one lakh acres of farmland.
“To overcome shortage of labour during the crop season, farmers who raise kuruvai crops will be provided full subsidy for purchasing sophisticated equipment for harvesting crops through at least 200 farming groups,” the release said.
The participants in the meeting also recorded that water level in the Mettur dam was presently just at 41.28 feet against a full reservoir level of 120 feet.
“As per the Cauvery tribunal verdict, Karnataka is expected to release 10.16 tmcft. Even if we receive that water from Karnataka, the dam will have a storage level 51.28 tmcft which is insufficient for releasing water from the dam for the kuruvai crops,” the chief minister said.
