With two more debt-ridden farmers committing suicide in Odisha on Tuesday, their toll has risen to 50 in the past one month. The continued cases of suicide have rejected the claim of the Naveen Patnaik Government of providing timely relief to farmers who are at the receiving end of loan burden following widespread drought.
Slammed from different quarters, including its own senior leaders, the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Tuesday said if required, it would publish a White Paper on the farmers’ suicide allegedly due to crop loss and debt burden.
“We are estimating the impact of drought on farmers. The State Government will publish a White Paper on the farmers’ suicide, if required,” BJD spokesperson and former Minister Pratap Keshari Deb told the media.
While distressed farmer Panaka Purti ended his life in Dharmagada in Kalahandi district, Kunja Hansa committed suicide at his village in Kamakshanagar in Dhenkanal district late on Monday. They were forced to take the extreme step for being unable to repay debts due to crop loss, said their family members.
Reports stated that Kunja had borrowed `50,000 from the SBI and repaid `10,000. But bank officials repeatedly put pressure on him to repay the remaining amount, said family members. Unable to bear the burden, he ended his life.
The BJD spokesperson said that reports of 48 farmers committing suicide were received by the State Government till date.
He said the administration has been probing whether the peasants’ death related to agricultural crisis. The BJD spokesman’s statement came a day after the Opposition Congress and BJP demanded white paper on the farmers’ suicide incidents.
Even as the State Government has declared a drought package of Rs 1,000 crore, it has failed to deter the farmers from committing suicide in Odisha.