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Impasse continues in Kuttanad fields

ALAPPUZHA: The impasse over non-availability of combine harvesters in the rain-hit paddy fields of Kuttanad turned worse on Tuesday with farmers continuing to be in a hostile mood.

Farmers at Kavalam, Punnapra, Mankombu and Thalavadi were among those who staged protests demanding immediate deployment of the machines. At Kavalam, the tense situation that evolved on Monday when the Maniyankari Padasekharam Samithi (association of farmers of a group of fields) prevented taking of two machines from the Vellisraka Padasekharam to Punnapra continued till late into Tuesday. District Collector V.K. Balakrishnan first deputed Kuttanad Vikasana Samithi (development committee) executive director Thomas Peelianickal and later, Revenue Divisional Officer K.N. Raji to hold talks. The farmers, who threatened to commit suicide, withdrew after authorities agreed to give them one machine now and another later.

At Thalavadi, farmers, mostly women, gathered in front of the local Krishi Bhavan demanding machines and reportedly locked the officials. One woman threatened to commit suicide by consuming poison. However, a police team from Edathua arrived there and pacified the women. She was among the farmers who had cultivated paddy on the Ezhunnootipara padasekharam at Thalavadi, where crop in over 300 hectares was yet to be harvested.

At Punnapra, a group of farmers who staged a sit-in in front of the local Krishi Bhavan were arrested and removed, but they returned by evening and the sit-in was continuing late into the night. At Mankombu, the Ramankary police arrested nine farmers for staging a protest in front of the Krishi Bhavan there.

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