Declare Tamil Nadu as drought-hit state: Farmers

The Federation of Tamil Nadu Agriculturists Association has urged the state government to declare the state as "drought-hit" following failure of South West Monsoon.

A resolution to this effect was adopted at a meeting held in Coimbatore, in which the federation said the state used to get rain for 120 days starting from June during the monsoon.

However, almost all the districts in Tamil Nadu have received below normal rains in the last 75 days, leading to a drought like situation, Federation Secretary S Nallasamy said.

There was lesser inflow into to water bodies, acute shortage of water for irrigation and drinking purpose, he claimed.

Since there was no possibility of getting adequate rainfall in the remaining 45 days, and the neighbouring states refusing to release the assured share of river water, Tamil Nadu should be declared as "drought-hit state" and steps must be taken to tackle the situation, he said.

In another resolution, the federation condoled the death of veteran farmer leader M R Sivasami, who died at the age of 83, two days ago.