Resentment is brewing up among thousands of organic and natural farmers spread across the districts of Coimbatore, the Nilgiris, Tirupur, Erode and Dindigul following the announcement by the DMK Government that the headquarters of Tamil Nadu Organic Certification Department at Coimbatore would soon be shifted to Chennai.

The TNOCD was launched with the objective of ensuring sustainable productivity without the use of artificial external inputs such as agro chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides, said G K Nagaraj, president of the Agricultural Wing of Tamil Nadu BJP, who is a lead farmer in the region. He said the decision to shift the head quarters comes at a time when the entire Kongu region consisting of the seven districts were on the verge of switching over to organic and natural farming.

“The farming community in this region would be put to difficulties once the State administration shifts the TNOCD to Chennai where there is no kind of natural farming. All of us may have to commute to Chennai to meet our needs for natural farming at this critical juncture,” said Nagaraj who along with hundreds of farmers handed over a representation to the District Collector pleading with the government not to go ahead with the shifting.

“This is yet another proof of the indifference of the Tamil Nadu Government towards the problems faced by people in the western region. More than 30 per cent of the tax revenue of Tamil Nadu is generated from this region and we need a fair deal from the Government in Chennai,” Vanathi Srinivasan, who represents Coimbatore South in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Srinivasan who is also the national president of the BJP’s women’s wing said that instead of shifting the TNOCD from Coimbatore, the Government should have modernised the centre by incorporating the new technologies that would benefit natural and organic farming.