The Utkal Bharat on Saturday urged the Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) to direct the State Government to pay Rs 3 lakh as compensation to the family of each farmer who committed suicide under loan pressure.
“While farmers are frequently committing suicide after being unable to repay loans due to crop damages, the State Government is not accepting the reason and terming the deaths as outcomes of family feuds and other reasons,” alleged a party team led by president Kharavela Swain in its petition.
The team lamented that families of the deceased farmers are losing their kin and a major income source for ever though the State Government denies accepting the deaths due to loan pressure.
Stating that the Government is providing compensation up to Rs 4 lakh to families of people dying due to lightning and rail and road accidents, the Urkal Bharat team argued that families of people committing suicide also need to be compensated by the Government from humanity point of view.
The party demanded that the OHRC soon direct the State Government to provide compensation of Rs 3 lakh to family of each farmer committed suicide.
Among others, UB Yuba State president Jagadish Pradhan, Bhubaneswar unit president Nabakishore Pradhan, Puri district chief Gangadhar Mansingh, Vidyarthi Utkal Bharat president Pratyusha Nayak, Nirmal Behera and Bishwajit Chakraborty were in the team.
Similarly, family members of some deceased farmers went to the OHRC as part of the team.