THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition staged a walkout in the Assembly on Tuesday protesting against what it called inadequate measures taken by the UDF Government to tackle farmer deaths. The walkout came after the Speaker rejected an Opposition plea for an adjournment motion on farmer deaths. CPI’s Mullakkara Ratnakaran, who moved the motion, alleged that 47 farmers had died between November 2 and now. The price of fertilisers was shooting up. The government had failed to stem the deaths as well as prices, he said.Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, in his reply, said that several of the farmers who died had ginger farms not in Kerala, but in Karnataka. The LDF, which was making a hue and cry over the deaths now, had earmarked only `58 crore during its tenure. Of this, `24 crore was yet to be disbursed when the LDF stepped down. This had happened when the then Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac had stated that the treasury had a surplus of `1,500 crore, he said.The government had taken the decision to amend the Kerala State Farm Debt Relief Commission Act to enable the Commission to deal with loans taken up to October 31, 2011. Also, on December 30, 2011, the government had declared Wayanad as a distressed district to enable easy settlement of loans outstanding taken from commercial banks, the CM said. Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan said that Chandy’s reply was unsatisfactory. He pointed out that 17 of the 47 deaths occurred in Wayanad. The government has not yet adopted any measures to address the grievances of farmers, he said.
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