17 farmers commit suicides in five days
TNN | Nov 9, 2011, 04.36AM IST
NAGPUR: With seven farmers in Vidarbha committing suicide in last two days, the crisis which had seen a lull in last few months has resurfaced. According to Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti, which spearheads cotton growers' cause in the region and also keeps a tab on suicide committed by ryots, the farm suicide toll has reached an alarming 17 in last five days and 671 in the current year.
The farmers who took the desperate route in the last three days have been identified as Maroti Mate of Palasgoan and Jivan Raghtate of Rehaki village ( both from Wardha), Kachruba Meran of Balsamudra and Mahadev Pasode of Vadati in Buldhana, Kailas Solanki of Karanjkhed and Kisan Mahurle of Sonbardi in Yavatmal and Ratan Nagtode of Udapur in Chandrapur district. The other 10 victims in last five days have been identified as Parshuram Jambhulkar, Sukkhdev Pawar, Ashok Chintelwar and Ramesh Tekam of Yavatmal district, Gajanan Sawant, Ananta Bhilange and Vithoba Munde of Buldhana, Gajanan Kavate and Deorao Nimbolkar of Akola, Dadarao Nage of Amravati.
VJAS president Kishore Tiwari informed that when he visited Kisan Mohurale's house at village Sonbardi in Yavatmal, his paralytic father and widow said the deceased farmer was under huge stress due to mounting debt, cotton crop failure and increasing medical expenses of his family. Most of Sonbardi farmers complained of heavy crop loss and that no one from the district administration had visited to asses the crop damage.
Situation of cotton growers in Western Vidarbha has worsened as the Bt cotton seeds promoted by the state have increased the economic pressure on farmers instead of resulting in higher yields of disease-free crop. Tiwari alleged. He demanded that the government should hike the minimum support price to Rs 6000 a quintal from the present Rs 3300 to save the farmers.
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