Another case of farmer suicide in Palasudha village of Erancha panchayat in Niali on July 29 has raise a storm of protest in the State with farmers’ outfit Navanirman Krushak Sangathan and State AAP unit condemning the anti-farmer policy of the State Government and demanding adequate compensation to the deceased’s kin. Notably, Dibakar Ojha (44) committed suicide on July 29 night in his house due to failure of sugarcane over five acres of land. After his suicide, the local villagers had blocked the Cuttack-Niali road.
The Government had provided `2,000 under the Harischandra Yojana to his family for holding his last rites. In a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Navanirman Krushak Sangathan State convenor Akshaya Kumar demanded that since farmer suicide is a regular phenomenon in the State, the Government should provide social security allowance of `5,000 per month to each farmer from the age of 20 years.The outfit lamented that the new Government was helping the companies by giving subsidies for production of tractors, power tillers and hybrid seeds etc under the pretext of helping farmers. This is a real conspiracy by which farmers are bound to commit suicide, it said. It demanded that the State Government send an inquiry team to probe the case, provide `10 lakh to the bereaved family and waive all outstanding loans. An AAP delegation also visited the house of deceased Ojha and met with his Bharati Maharana, a school teacher and two children.
The team included Nishikant Mohapatra, Anupama Sethi and Dhanada Mishra, among others. After hearing their grievance that no assistance was provided by the Government to the family, the AAP strongly condemned the apathy of the State Government and demanded `10 lakh as compensation to the bereaved family.
Besides, the AAP also sought a lasting and effective solution to the problem of farmer’s suicide in the State at the earliest.