Post News Network
Loisingha, Oct 21: Revenue and agriculture department officials during a probe Tuesday into the suicide of a farmer at Ghushuramunda under this block in Bolangir district admitted that the cultivator had suffered crop loss.
Basudev Bhoi (42) had consumed poison October 15 and was admitted to the local hospital before being shifted to Burla-based VSS Medical College and Hospital where he succumbed Monday.
A team led by tehsildar Purusottam Mirdha and comprising RI Rajesh Kumar Sahoo, ARI Jibardhan Chhatria, agriculture officer Sushil Kumar Sethy, overseer Jogesh Behera, pest inspector Santosh Kumar Meher and village level worker Dharitri Sahoo reached the village in the morning and met the bereaved family and villagers to ascertain the reason behind Bhoi’s suicide.
Bhoi, a share-cropper, resided at his in-laws’ house and worked on the land of his father-in-law and two other villagers. As he owned no land, banks in the region declined to finance him. This forced him to borrow loans from a landlord and private moneylenders to raise crops, the probe team was told.
Bhoi plunged into depression after he suffered crop loss due to scanty rainfall and pest attack on his crops. All his dreams were shattered as he found it difficult to manage the expenses of his family as well as that of his in-laws. This perhaps drove him to take the
extreme step, family members and villagers said.
Later, the team members visited Tangerberna and surveyed the land where Bhoi worked. They admitted that Bhoi had suffered crop loss after they found the land parched due to scanty rainfall and crops wilted due to pest attack.
The tehsildar said it would be premature to speak on the issue before the probe gets completed.
