Three more farmers commit suicide in Orissa; Toll touches 15

Bhubaneswar, Nov 5 : In shocking incidents, three distressed farmers unable to bear the burden of crop loss and loan debt today committed suicide by consuming poison in three villages taking the total farmers' suicide in Orissa to 15 during the last one month.

Report reaching here today said while one farmer in Kaseipali village under Loisinga block in Bolangir district committed suicide, another also took the extreme step in Balisuruda village under Salepur block in Cuttack district.

A third farmer from Kantamal block in Boudh district also committed suicide today.

With three more suicide reported today so far 15 farmers had committed suicide in the state and a majority of them belonged to Western Orissa where as many as eight farmers have taken their lives The suicide of the farmers in distress continued unabated ever since the first case was reported on October four last in Western Orissa despite the welfare measures announced by the Naveen Patnaik government.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had already ordered a high level administrative probe by the Agricultural Production Commissioner(APC) into the series of farmers' deaths in various districts in the state.

The trend was no more confined to a particular region but spread across the state as such tragic incidents had so far been reported from Coastal, Southern, Northern and Western parts of Orissa.

The Opposition political parties held the ruling BJD government responsible for the tragic death of the farmers and demanded immediate resignation of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Agriculture Minister Dr Damodar Rout for their failure to prevent the recurrence of the farmers' suicide in the state.

A report from Bolangir said Budhadev of Kaseipali village owning five acre of land suffered heavily due to crop loss in his field. This morning he had gone to his field and consumed poison there as he could not bear the pain of the crop loss. The farmer was immediately taken to Loisinga hospital and from there to the Bolangir District Headquarter Hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

Bolangir District Collector Aswathi S said a team of officials had rushed to the village to probe into the suicide of Budhadev and submit a report.

Crop failure also led to another suicide today in Balisamala village under Salepur Block of Cuttack district. One Dhanu Champa (40) was admitted to Salipur Public Health Centre on Monday last after he tried to end his life consuming pesticide.

Later, he was shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack, where he died today. His family members said Dhanu had taken a loan of Rs 60,000 from a local money lender for farming in six acre of land he had taken on lease and was much perturbed due to crop failure and pest attack.

The third suicide during the day was reported from a village under Kantamal block in Boudh district where the farmer also consumed poison and committed suicide when he suffered heavy loss due to crop failure.

The Opposition political parties had been demanding adequate compensation to the next kin of the deceased farmers and job to one member of the family besides short term loan from the cooperatives to the farmers with one per cent interest to tide over the situation.

They had also urged the state government to stop recovery of loan till the situation improved.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
Unauthorised publication of any content from NewKerala.Com is prohibited