Farm loan waiver: 40 farmers stage road roko, held in Tirunelveli

Police arrested 40 farmers affiliated to All India Kisan Sabha as they staged a road roko at Vannarpet in Palayamkottai on Wednesday demanding waiver of crop loans they had availed and disbursal of fresh loans.

The protesting farmers said the TVK government, as promised in its poll manifesto for the 2026 Assembly elections, should waive all crop loans without any rider as most of the farmers had suffered huge crop loss due to monsoon failure in 2025. Since the farmers had no means to start the new paddy season, they have started cultivation after taking loans from the private firms or moneylenders. They should be given fresh crop loans through cooperative societies and the banks without any condition like full repayment of previous crop loan.

The agriculturists, who have lost their job due to drought-like conditions across the State, should be given assistance. The move to introduce ‘smart meter’ in the farm power connections should be dropped. Since farming in delta districts has been seriously affected for want of water, the Tamil Nadu Government should take every possible step to get Cauvery water as directed by the Supreme Court, they said.

Since, El-Nino has seriously impacted agricultural operations across Tamil Nadu, the Tamil Nadu Government should start taking steps to save farmers from this natural calamity. The farmers, facing serious threat from the crop-raiding wild animals, should be given due compensation by revising the quantum of compensation as per today’s inflation.

The district administrations should be instructed not to give permission for stone mining and establishing new industries in the agricultural zones, the protestors said.

The detained farmers were released later.