Post News Network
Nuapada/Khariar Road: Three months after crop loss and debt burden claimed the life of a farmer in Kuliabandha village, about 20 km from the district headquarters, another farmer of the village committed suicide reportedly for the same reasons Wednesday.
Omprakash Patel (22) consumed pesticide in the absence of his family members. He was later admitted by family members to Khariar Road hospital where a doctor declared him dead on arrival.
Holding the state government responsible for farmer deaths, Congress workers led by party’s block unit president Hiralal Patel and BJP workers led by Chaturbhuj Sharma blocked National Highway-353 by keeping the body on the road. The blockade threw traffic out of gear as several vehicles were left stranded on both sides of the highway for hours.
The protesters relented after Nuapada tehsildar Priyabrata Padhi gave Rs 5,000 from the district Red Cross Fund and Rs 2,000 from Harishchandra Yojana to the bereaved family. The protesters submitted a memorandum to the tehslidar citing their demands. Police sent the body for post-mortem and registered a case.
Sources said Patel had borrowed Rs 45,538 from Kuliabandha Cooperative Society and had also taken some money as advance from a labour contractor in the area.
Five years ago he had invested over Rs 1.5 lakh to install a deep borewell on his paddy field. However, he failed to connect it with a power line due to financial crunch. Crops on 5.86 acre withered after he failed to water them. Crop loss and the loan burden pushed him to distress, his wife Binita Bai claimed.
Kuliabandha has been adopted as a model village by Rajya Sabha MP AV Swamy under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. PNN
