Sonepur: A farmer allegedly hanged himself on a tree over crop loss due to pest menace and debt burden at Singhijuba village under Sadar police limits in Sonepur district Saturday. The deceased has been identified as Bhutulu Karna of the same village.
Locals spotted his body hanging from a tree Saturday morning and alerted the cops. He took the extreme step while family members were fast asleep after dinner Friday night.
“Karna was under severe trauma since a couple of days after severe crop loss. He was worried about how to repay the loans he had taken for paddy cultivation. He also had no other way to run the errands of his family. He might have taken the extreme step under stress,” a fellow farmer said.
According to sources, Karna had cultivated paddy on two acres of land this Kharif season. He had taken a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh from private finance companies and moneylenders and expressed to return after bumper harvest.
However, his hopes of bumper harvest were dashed after Titli. Moreover, the left over crops that had survived Titli and subsequent flood were affected of pests due to the stagnant floodwater. This brought huge loss for Karna who was already reeling under crop loss last year.
Till now, he has not received any compensation for last year’s crop loss. Unable to repay the loan, Karna took such an extreme step, his wife said.
“He was under pressure to pay the loans and committed suicide when everyone was asleep last night,” his wife said. He is now survived by his widowed wife and two little children with no one to take care of.
On receipt of information, police reached the village, seized the body and sent it for post-mortem. A probe has been launched into the incident.
Similarly, in the first week of November, an elderly couple allegedly attempted suicide by jumping into a pond at Tunagaan village under Koksara block in Kalahandi district, following crop loss.
Though the villagers managed to save the woman, the man drowned to death. The villagers suspect that the couple took the extreme step due to crop loss and debt-burden.
PNN
