As distressed cries from farmers across the state of Tamil Nadu gets louder for the government to declare drought in several districts, as many as 10 farmers lost their lives in Nagapattinam district in a matter of 24 hours.
Earlier on Friday, many farmers from Trichy ate rat curry in front of the Collector's office, demanding that the government declare the district as drought-hit.
Vincent Arockiaraj reports for The Times of India that 10 farmers in the district died due to cardiac arrest on Friday, after their crops failed.
60-year-old Kaliaperumal from Orkudi village in Kilvelur block died on his two acre land where he had taken up samba cultivation. 67-year-old R Saroja, a native of Kadambara Vazhkai village, had been cultivating crops in her two acre land. She had complained of chest pain and passed away on Friday evening.
70-year-old K Pakkirisamy of Ramarnatham East village, suffered a cardiac arrest and died while he was on his way back home from his farm on Friday morning. According to TOI, he had taken up samba cultivation across three acres using the conventional transplantation method.
A report in The New Indian Express states that Ganapathy from Chinnadev-ankaadu who had been cultivating samba crop in a three acre land was reportedly finding it difficult to irrigate his land. For the 74-year-old farmer, his crops were hit by weeds, that crippled the growth of the crops. Ganapathy collapsed on Friday evening as he was overseeing the de-weeding work and passed away the same day.
Another 72-year-old farmer named Gokulavasan died of cardiac arrest at his home in Panjanathikulam Nadusethi village. Gokulavasan, who had been cultivating in a four acre land, was reportedly worried due to wilted crops.
K Veeramani was only 30-years old when he failed to survive a cardiac arrest on Friday. He had on Thursday collapsed on his land and was being treated at Thiruvarur Medical College Hospital, but passed away the following day.
Koothapparthooppu native Thirumavalavan, Pakkirisamy and Raj Kumar also suffered chest pain and collapsed on their land.