Farmer attempts suicide, Chouhan government on defensive
By IANSMonday, January 10, 2011
BHOPAL - Depressed over his crop getting damaged due to frost, a farmer attempted suicide by consuming pesticide in Madhya Pradesh’s Damoh district Monday. It was the second such incident in the past three days in the district. The BJP government denied that any farmer had tried to kill himself due to debt.
State Minister and government spokesperson Narottam Mishra told reporters: “No farmer has committed suicide due to debt and there is no need for the Congress to do politics on the issue. The Shivraj Singh Chouhan government is with farmers.”
However, Mishra did not mention the reason for the recent suicides of farmers.
In the meantime, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in a separate statement assured farmers of appropriate compensation for their damaged crops.
The intense cold and frost has damaged crops of a large number of farmers in the state.
Uday Singh Parihar, 28, a resident of Devran village, consumed pesticide in an attempt to commit suicide. He has been admitted to the district hospital.
The farmer had cultivated crops on 20 acres land, of which five acres were his own. The crops got destroyed because of the intense cold and frost in the region. Parihar had taken Rs.2 lakh loan to cultivate the land.
“I had taken around Rs.2 lakh loan. But the crops have got destroyed,” said Parihar in a broken voice from his hospital bed.
On Friday, Gulab Singh, 50, of Tikri Pipariya village consumed pesticide and tried to commit suicide.
On Dec 15, a farmer, Nand Kishore Yadav, committed suicide in Damoh, the first case of suicide. Damoh town is over 273 km from here.
Significantly, Damoh is the native place of Agricultural Minister Ramkrishna Kusmaria.
On Sunday, farmer Shiv Prasad committed suicide in Sehore district.
Some farmers in Sehore Monday held a demonstration at the collectorate office to demand compensation for their damaged crops. The farmers were angry that the administration has not even begun a survey to take stock of their damaged crops.
State Congress president Suresh Pachouri visited the house of Shiv Prasad at his village Brijesh Nagar.
“In such situations the government should come forward and support the farmers. The landlords and banks are pressing farmers for their loans, which is forcing them to commit suicide,” said Pachouri after meeting relatives of Shiv Prasad.
