Puducherry: The opposition DMK on Friday slammed the AINRC headed NDA government here for 'ignoring' the woes of farmers in the Union Territory.
DMK opposition Leader in the territorial Assembly R Siva said in a release that farmers were now facing hardship in storing paddy and the six procurement centres the government had promises were yet be opened.
"Middlemen are trying to exploit the situation and purchase the paddy at an exceptionally low price," he claimed.
While the government had fixed Rs 20.51 as the price per kilo of paddy, middlemen were pestering the farmers to dispose the paddy harvested during the current samba season at Rs 16 a kilo.
"The procurement centres should be opened without delay," Siva said.
He also said that although the government had promised waiver of loans, farmers have borrowed from cooperative societies. The societies' managements state that there was no official order to them to write off the loans.
The banks were also not extending fresh crop loans, the DMK leader alleged.
Siva expressed dismay over the government's continued negligence of the farmers.
