The Federation of Tamil Nadu Agriculturists Association has urged the government to declare Tamil Nadu as ‘drought hit state,’ following the failure of South West Monsoon across the state.

In a resolution adopted at a meeting held here in Coimbatore, the federation said that Tamil Nadu used to receive rains for 120 days from June onwards, during the monsoon. But this year, the rains were below normal at almost all the districts in the state, indicating the failure of monsoon, leading to drought-like situation, the federation secretary, S Nallasamy, said.

Inflow to the water bodies was very sparse, leading to acute shortage of water for irrigation and consumption, he claimed. Since there was no possibility of getting adequate rains in the remaining
45 days, coupled with the refusal of neighbouring states to release Tamil Nadu’s share of the river waters, the state should be declared ‘drought-hit,’ Nallasami said.

The federation also passed a resolution condoling the death of veteran farmer leader, MR Sivasami, who died at the age of 83, two days ago.