Govt responsible for farmers’ suicide: Cong

Raipur, December 29, 2011

Expressing its concern over rising suicidal cases of farmers in the state, Congress has held government responsible for it. “It is bad governance of the government which compelled the farmers to take such rash step,” said the PCC president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey on Thursday.

Pointing suicidal incident of village Tiyur under Kharsia block of Raigarh district where young farmer Satish Kumar Yadav killed himself on December 28, 2011, the duo said the government completely failed to check the trend because it was baulking to address the problems of farmers.

Just a day before his suicidal act, Yadav was looted in the local market – Mangal Bazaar while he was returning home after withdrawing Rs 42000 from bank, the amount he got against selling paddy at procurement centre.

“When he rushed to police station to lodge complaint about the loot incident, he was shown the doors. The cops simply refused to file FIR. Severely upset by the indifferent attitude of the cops, Yadav killed himself. Certainly, the episode exposes insensitive faces of the police and the government as well,” the duo said.

They informed that the police had not yet registered a case against the unidentified criminals who victimised Yadav. “The Congress workers have submitted a memorandum in this regard to the Raigarh Collector and if no action would be taken instantly then we will stage dharna against the government in Kharsia in the coming days,” the duo warned.

They said majority of the farmers were heavily indebted under loans but the government had not taken any initiative to give them relief.

“The potato farmer Bal Bhagwan Yadav from Pandrapat village in Jashpur district committed suicide because he could save only Rs 2000 after clearing all his loans from the earnings from his total crop production. Two farmers from legislative constituency of Agriculture Minister Chandrashekhar Sahu killed themselves after failing to clear their debts,” they said.

Citing figures of National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) they said about 12405 people committed suicide in 2009-10. “Over 75 percent of the state population depends on agriculture. Hence, the proportion of farmers committing suicide every year could easily be comprehended,” they added.

They said another key reason of farmers’ woes and exploitation was increasing black marketing of fertilisers and seeds.