Mumbai: One more instance of farmer suicide was reported from Vidarbha. Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP and Congress leader Nana Patole said Someshwar Kukade, a farmer from Pavani in Bhandara district, hanged himself on Friday. He had unpaid loans worth Rs 75,000. “I met his family on Friday,” Mr Patole said. On Tuesday, Yavatmal farmer Shankar Chaire had committed suicide, allegedly due to unpaid loans and his damaged cotton crop due to pink bollworm. Both the Congress and the Nationlist Congress Parties (NCP) have slammed the government and state chief minister for inaction in Chaire’s case.
Mr Patole alleged that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was insensitive and had avoided Chaire’s family during his visit to Yavtamal on Thursday. He demanded that a complete loan waiver must be declared for all farmers and a minimum support price must be given to the agricultural produce, as per the BJP’s commitment. The Congress leader feared that if the government did not take proper steps to help farmers, more suicides could take place. He blamed the online application procedure adopted by the state, which caused the farmers a lot of anguish.
Mr Patole said the farmers sowed tur as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government asked them to grow pulses. But now wholesalers are purchasing tur from farmers at a 50% lower price from last year. After the failure of the cotton crop, which had been infected by pink bollworm, the government failed to give farmers any compensation. The loan waiver benefits have not yet reached farmers. So what will farmers do, he asked.
Though the chief minister visited Yavatmal for a programme on Thursday, he cancelled his other engagements fearing agitations and avoided visiting Chaire’s the family extend his support, said Mr Patole.
