Another farmer, Gobinda Majhi (58), of Nuapada district committed suicide by consuming pesticide on Saturday night. He was found dead on Sunday morning near his vegetable field at his village Belpati of Jatgarh panchayat.
According to family members, Gobinda, who went out of home at about 8 pm on Saturday, didn't return. His elder son Jogsingh found his body under a mahua tree in the field at about 7 am next morning. Two bottles of pesticides were found near the body.
Villagers revealed that Gobinda was a hardworking man. He had dug a well to create irrigation facility for vegetable cultivation. However, the well dried up this year due to scanty rain, as a consequence of which the vegetable crops perished. His paddy crop had withered earlier.
A canal of a minor irrigation project runs near Gobind's farm, but this year the canal is totally dry as there is no water in the MIP.
"We use to migrate to work in Bhattas (brick kilns) when our father manages the farming with the help of our mother and sisters at village. We would have left the village after a few days, but our father left us forever," said Jogsingh.
He also informed that his father had taken a loan from the Utkal Gramya Bank (UGB), which sent a notice recently to Gobinda to repay the loan. Besides this, Gobinda had also taken a loan of Rs 50,000 from the Jai ma Budha Raja group of his village. "It was a loan for buying goats, but all the goats bought died after a year. No insurance was paid," said Jogsingh.
"It is unfortunate that the Government is not paying any heed towards the problem of farmers. This is the eighteenth case of suicide in Nuapada district," said BJP Nuapada Krushak Mocrcha president Sanjay Tiwari. "We demand Rs 20 lakh as compensation to the family of Gobind," he added.
Khriar Tehsildar Sambhu Prashad Mishra and the Tarbod Revenue Inspector along with police officials of Komna reached the spot to take stock of the situation. The tehsildar said Rs 20,000 would be paid to the widow of Gobinda