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  India   Aid fails to stop suicide by farmers

Aid fails to stop suicide by farmers

Published : Mar 22, 2016, 12:10 am IST
Updated : Mar 22, 2016, 12:10 am IST

Despite the Naveen Patnaik government’s assurances and special package announced for farmers, suicide by peasants continue in the state.

Despite the Naveen Patnaik government’s assurances and special package announced for farmers, suicide by peasants continue in the state. After a brief lull, a fresh case of farmer suicide was reported from Dhenkanal district on Monday, taking the total number of farmer suicide cases in the state since the last August to 175. The farmer was under stress due to bad crops owing to deficient rainfall. He had cultivated around two acres of land on a sharing basis.

Enraged villagers later staged a road blockade demanding compensation to the victim’s family. The villagers staged demonstration in front of the block office.

Following intervention of local police officials and tehsildar, the situation was pacified and blockade was lifted.

“We have received allegations that the farmer has committed suicide due to loan burden. The villagers had staged road blockade putting the body in front of the office. The agitators were successfully persuaded to lift the blockade,” Kankadahada tehsildar Bijaylaxmi Jena said.

The family members of the deceased had filed a complaint with the local police station that Prafulla had committed suicide after being unable to bear the loan burden.

“The family members of the deceased have complained that he had committed suicide due to loan burden. The body has been sent for post-mortem. We are investigating into the matter,” inspector Subhash Chandra Pani said.

During the ongoing Budget session of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, the BJD government has admitted that 174 farmers in the state have committed suicide during the Kharif season due to crop loss and loan burden.

Location: India, Odisha, Bhubaneswar