Sangham appeals TN Govt to remove 'Toddy' from alcohol list

Chennai, Dec 27 (UNI) The Tamizhaga Vivasayeegal Sangham today appealed the state government to remove toddy from the list of alcohol and allow to sell it as soft drink as was prevalent in neighbouring Karnataka.

Talking to reporters here, Sangham president S K Chinnaswamy and General Secretary Raja Chidambaram said if toddy was removed from the alcoholic list by the state government, lakhs of coconut farmers would be benefitted.

Thanking the government for waiving farms loans to the tune of Rs 6,866 crore, they appealed to the government to take steps for waiving loans obtained by farmers from the nationalised banks and other cooperative institutions.

They said a resoultion to this effect was adopted at the Sangham's state office-bearers meeting here today.

The meeting, besides urging the Centre and the state government to hasten the proposed nationalisation of rivers and constructing check dams across rivers whereever possible to increase the ground water level, also demanded fixing a remunerative price of Rs 1200 per tonne for sugarcane.

The leaders also urged the state government to take possession of Sangham's founder-president Narayanswamy Naidu's house at Vaiyampalayam village in Coimbatore district and to erect a befitting memorial for him.

The meeting decided to celebrate 'Farmers Day' on February six, the birth anniversary of Narayansamy Naidu at Coimbatore and to organise a demonstration on that day to draw the state government's attention on the pending demands of the Sangham, they added.

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