It seems that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal and State Agriculture Minister OP Dhankar do not see eye to eye on the crucial issue of farmers’ suicide in the State. A day after the Minister OP Dhankar said that he had asked Chief Minister for a probe into the recent suicides by seven farmers in the State, Manohar lal on Friday made it clear that investigation into such cases is not possible.
While talking to the mediapersons, the Chief Minister said that it is unfortunate that cases of farmers’ suicide are reported from various parts of the State. “But, it is not possible to investigate into the reasons of such cases. As per reports, some farmers have committed suicide and some have died due to cardiac arrest. Investigation into the reasons of farmers’ death is not possible at all,” he added.
On the issue of special girdawari (crop damage assessment exercise) in the state, he said, “For the future, we are planning to use satellite images, maps and other scientific techniques to ensure accuracy on the assessment exercise. So far, no complaint of incorrect girdawari has come to us, he added.
Haryana government in its special girdawari report till April 22 had assessed crop damage to over13 lakh acres in the state because of untimely rains and hailstorm. Out of which, 3.17 lakh acres was hit with crop loss between 76 to 100 per cent, 1.92 lakh acres with crop loss between 51 to 75 per cent and 8.24 lakh acres between 25 and 50 per cent. The unseasonal rains and hailstorms in Haryana in the past couple of months had ruined crops standing on several thousand acres of land leading to great distress and financial trouble for farmers. Many farmers and agricultural labourers had committed suicide or had died due to heart attack in the past one month in Haryana.
Notably, Dhankar had on Thursday said that as per the reports of Government, seven farmers have committed suicide in the State and he had taken up the issue with Chief Minister so that a data could be prepared in this regard and Government can investigate the reasons behind the farmers’ suicide. Dhankar had also talked about bringing in a policy for the welfare of farmers so that suicide cases could be stopped in Haryana.