Bhopal: The unremitting wave of farmer suicides continued in Madhya Pradesh with three more tillers taking their lives in last 24 hours.
With this, number of farmers taking extreme step to get rid of mounting loan burdens on them has increased to 14 since June one when tillers launched ten-day stir in MP demanding the state government to provide them immediate succours such as debt relief and fair prices for their produces to deal with the situation.
Ironically, four of the 14 farmer suicide deaths have been reported in chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s home district of Sehore.
According to the police, one Bansilal Meena (54), resident of Jamunia Kurd village under Doraha police limits in Sehore district committed suicide by hanging him in the ceiling fan in his house on Monday allegedly due to distress over debt.
His brother Manoj said the deceased had borrowed Rs eight lakhs from bank (Rs three lakhs) as well as from local money lenders (Rs five lakhs) to dig up a well and purchase seeds to raise kharif crops this season.
He had gone into depression when the well did not yield water and took the extreme step, Manoj said.
“A case has been registered in connection with the incident. Probe was on”, Sehore district additional superintendent of police A P Singh said.
Earlier, three debt-ridden farmers, Dulchan Keer (65) of Jajna village, Khajju Khan of Bachpa Kalla village and Mukesh Yadav (23) of Lachaur village, in the district had ended their lives for allegedly having failed to repay debts.
In Sayar Bomra village in drought-probe Vidisha district, a farmer, Jeevan Singh Meena (35), was found hanging in a tree in his agriculture field on Monday morning.
His family members claimed that he was under stress owing to debt, but local tehsildar Santosh Vateliya said preliminary investigation into the case attributed the tragic incident to family dispute.
According to his family members, he had taken a loan of Rs four lakhs from the bank and local money lenders.
Earlier on Sunday, a debt-ridden farmer of Pipliya Vyas village in Neemuch district, Pyarelal Oud, committed suicide by hanging himself in a tree in his agriculture field.
