Farmers demand delta dists be declared drought affected

: More than 500 farmers today picketed the District Collector office's here, demanding that delta districts be declared drought affected and proper relief be given to farmers who could not carry out farming.
The farmers, including those of Farm Workers Association, also demanded Rs 25 lakh as compensation to the next of kin of the farmers who committed suicide after their crops withered due to drought.
They said the formation of the cauvery river water management board was the only solution to the problem as the delta districts faced acute drought due to non release of water from Karnataka
A tense situation prevailed at the entrance of the collectorate for some time as the crowd swelled and officials were forced to close the main gate. Police were deployed in in large numbers to deal with the situation.

Officials said the drought situation in the district was really bad and most crops had withered and said one of the reasons for ground water depletion in these districts was indiscriminate sand mining in cauvery and coleroon rivers using heavy machinery.
There was enough groundwater when there was good amount of sand in the river in these districts and the drought had arisen due to illegal sand mining over and above the permitted limits, they said.