Trichy: Even as chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami assured that he would visit other cyclone-hit districts in coming days since he had to cut short his tour due to bad weather on Tuesday, farmers in the affected area expressed disappointment over his visit.Stating that people in distress expect consolation and support from people at the helm, cyclone-affected villagers opined that the chief minister perhaps could have visited the most-affected hamlets and interacted with the people who have lost their livelihood.Officials picked Machuvadi close to Pudukottai town as the start for the chief minister to take stock of the situation. However, as Alangudi, Aranthangi and Kandarvakkottai were the worst affected pockets, selecting Machuvadi as the site for inspection surprised locals. Even while visiting Machuvadi, locals were not permitted to interact and share their grievances with the chief minister.“The ongoing protests in cyclone-hit hamlets were predominantly because of authorities not meeting the affected people. It is human tendency to expect supportive words while grieving. We expected the chief minister to interact with us,” Ibrahim Babu, a resident of Nizam Colony in Pudukottai said.Even a section of Machuvadi locals lamented that the heavy posse of police and the senior bureaucrats accompanying the duo discouraged them from approaching the CM and deputy CM O Panneerselvam. Completing the Pudukottai visit, Palaniswami then stopped at the helipad in Pattukottai after which he commuted on road to reach Soorapallam hamlet where several acres of coconut plantation was devastated.Though the leading farmer V Duraimanickam from Orathandu was fortunate to share his views with the CM at a coconut farm, he opined that Palaniswami should have spent some more time in interacting with the disaster-hit farmers.“Authorities failing to meet the farmers was the common complaint levelled during protests in cyclone-hit hamlets involving even AIADMK members The CM should certainly have met more number of coconut farmers,” Duraimanickam said.Similar agony persists among the affected people in Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam particularly in Vedaranyam and Thiruthuraipoondi towns as they allege that the efficiency of district administrations took a significant dip post the cyclone.

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