Rengali: Sadhu Kishan (50), a farmer of Khapsadera village of Tamperkela panchayat under this block in Sambalpur district, committed suicide by consuming pesticides in the wee hours Wednesday.
Sadhu took the step after losing his mental balance over crop loss and debt burden, a complaint lodged with Burla police out-post by his family members said. Police seized the body and handed it over to the family after post-mortem. Further investigation into the suicide case is on, outpost officials said.
According to the case diary, Sadhu had raised paddy in four acres in last kharif season for which he borrowed Rs60,000 from Tamperkela cooperative society. Later, the state government declared the panchayat as 50 per cent drought-hit and announced an input subsidy of Rs6, 800 per acre for the affected farmers. In the hope of getting government aid, Sadhu cleared the loan amount with much difficulty. However, he didn’t get the declared assistance from the administration.
Sadhu again cultivated green chilly and vegetables on his 4.5 acres of land to compensate for the losses of previous season. He again approached the society and took a loan of Rs30,000 for farming. However, he suffered crop losses due to heat wave and pest attack.
The farmer was in severe mental stress for this reason, some villagers said. Failing to withstand the pressure Sadhu lost his mental balance and consumed pesticide Monday evening. He was rushed to Sambalpur district headquarters hospital by his family and later to VSS Medical College and Hospital in Burla. However, he died while undergoing treatment there.
The drought-hit paddy growers of Tamperkela panchayat are yet to be provided with assistance declared by the government for their losses during last kharif season. Earlier, a young farmer Bidyadhar Bag had also ended life by consuming poison because of debt burden and crop loss. PNN