Thanjavur: DMK activists today staged a demonstration here urging the Central and State Governments to declare the Delta region as drought-hit and immediately distribute compensation to the farmers who died of shock due to crop failure.

Led by Thiruvaiyaru MLA and the party’s South District Secretary Durai Chandrasekaran, the demonstrators raised slogans urging fulfillment of their demands which included waiver of all agricultural loans, disbursement of Rs. 25,000 per acre as compensation to the farmers and Rs 10,000 as compensation to the family of agriculture workers.

Former Union Ministers T.R. Baalu, S.S. Palanimanickam, former MP L. Ganesan, MLA M Ramachandran (Orathanadu), chief executive members T.K.G. Neelamekam, M. Gandhi and C. Nagarajan and several others participated.

Addressing the demonstrators, Baalu said at least 63 farmers died of shock as their crops failed. The total area of cultivation which stood at 16 lakh hectares in the region has now shrunk to half. As the northeast monsoon failed, Tamil Nadu received only 22 per cent of the annual rainfall. Baalu urged the Central and State Governments to immediately declare Delta region as drought-hit and distribute adequate compensation to the affected farmers and agriculture workers.

Palanimanickam, in his address, said the ground water table had depleted abysmally as monsoon failed. “There is no water in lakes and ponds in the region,” he said and appealed to the authorities to take steps to prevent farmers’ deaths.