The suicide of a farmer outside the Mantralaya last week had reverberations in the state Legislative Council on Monday as the Opposition slammed the state government over the incident.
The suicide of a farmer outside the Mantralaya last week had reverberations in the state Legislative Council on Monday as the Opposition slammed the state government over the incident. While it demanded that a murder case be registered against officials responsible for the suicide, the state government claimed that it had provided all possible aid to the deceased farmer.
Madhav Kadam, a farmer from Nanded district, attempted to commit suicide opposite Mantralaya by drinking insecticide, alleging that the state government had failed to provide him drought compensation despite having a crop failure. He later died in a hospital on Saturday.
Raising the issue in the state Legislative Council, Leader of Opposition Dhananjay Munde from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alleged that the state government’s apathy towards the plight of farmers led to Kadam’s suicide.
“A suicide attempt opposite Mantralaya is a very serious incident. It happened because the government excluded farmers sowing cotton from getting compensation for crop failure. The deceased farmer had met a few ministers, along with the tehsildar and the collector asking for help, but didn’t receive any,” Mr Munde said.
It is the first time in the history of the state that a farmer has committed suicide in front of Mantralaya. If the farmer had committed suicide for not receiving compensation, then action should be taken against the concerned officials, said Jayant Patil from the PWP.
Agriculture minister Eknath Khadse, in his reply, refuted allegations of apathy. The amount of crop failure was already given to the deceased farmer, he claimed.
“The government has decided to provide compensation if there is a 33 per cent crop failure. If we had gone by the previous rule of 50 per cent, he would not have received a single rupee. But, a compensation of Rs 4,624 was deposited to his bank account more than a month back,” he said.
Responding to him, Mr Munde claimed that the state government paid the compensation amount only after he tried to commit suicide.
The House was adjourned as irate Opposition members raised slogans against Mr Khadse, who alleged that they were politicising the issue.
