Get complete drought relief from Centre, pay Rs 25,000 per acre to farmers: Stalin

Chennai: DMK Working President MK Stalin on Wednesday urged the Tamil Nadu Government to take steps to get the full quantum of drought relief from the Centre and sanction Rs 25,000 per acre to the affected farmers.

Accusing the AIADMK regime of not furnishing "complete information" on the drought situation, huge losses of ryots and farmers' suicides in Tamil Nadu to a visiting Central panel, he said the state government should give all such data to the panel.

Stalin, who is also the Leader of the opposition in the Assembly, claimed that while "225 farmers had comitted suicide due to loss of their livelihood," it was "shocking" that the state government had said only 17 had ended their lives.

The state government had clarified that such 17 farmers had committed suicide due to various reasons.

He alleged that farmers and their associations were claiming that the Central panel had not fully heard their grievances.

"Tamil Nadu government should get the full quantum of drought relief from the Centre," he said, adding that steps should be taken to claim crop insurance and disburse Rs 25,000 relief per acre to affected farmers.

On January 16, Chief Minister Panneerselvam had urged the Centre to sanction Rs 39,565 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund towards drought relief.

He had also requested Centre to release Rs 1,000 crore for immediate relief measures.

Stalin also urged Panneerselvam to waive borrowings by farmers from nationalised banks and their cooperative crop loans as well and protect their "future."