Over 150 farmers on a sit-in protest at Paravalasu village in Tiruppur district demanding compensation for livestock killed by wandering dogs were arrested on Friday evening after a 30-hour-long road-blockade spanning two days.

The protest that the farmers began around noon on Thursday by placing carcasses of several goats and sheep mauled and killed by the dogs was stopped by the police at about 6 p.m.

The buses on Erode-Palani road had to be diverted along alternative routes due to the protest that kept gathering momentum with larger participation of farmers.

During the course of the protest on Friday, District Revenue Officer Karthikeyan attempted to pacify the farmers by citing the initiatives taken by the district administration to take the plight of the farmers to the notice of the government.

However, the position taken by the farmers was that they had waited enough and would not budge until the government issued the order on payment of compensation.

According to the farmers, the government was unresponsive to their sufferings despite the loss of over 500 goats/ sheep to the ferocious dogs. They expressed disgust with the Animal Husbandry Department over what they termed as its “failure” to sterilise wandering dogs.

“We are planning the next course of action for sustaining the protest,” P. Velusamy, president of PAP Vellakovil Branch Canal (Kangeyam-Vellakovil) Water Conservation Association, said on behalf of the protesting farmers.

On Thursday, Tiruppur Collector T. Christuraj constituted a Divisional-level Committee headed by the Revenue Divisional Officer of Dharapuram to hold two sittings every month to deal with the problems caused by wandering dogs to the farming community and the general public in Dharapuram and Kangayam blocks.

The mandate of the Committee that has as its members DSPs (Deputy Superintendent of Police) and ADs (Assistant Director) of Animal Husbandry Department of Kangayam and Dharapuram blocks, and BDOs (Block Development Officer) of Mulanur, Kundadam, Vellakovil, and Kangayam is to evolve preventive mechanisms to safeguard livestock from attacks by the wandering dogs.

The order issued by the Collector requires the Animal Husbandry Department to team up with the panchayats to bring the population of the dogs under control, and to create awareness among the farmers on ways to safeguard their livestock.