DEBTRIDDEN FARMER COMMITS SUICIDE IN KAUSHAMBI

ALLAHABAD: A debt-ridden farmer committed suicide by hanging himself in a Kaushambi village, the native district of deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya. The body was found hanging in an orchard on Wednesday morning. A resident of village Chak Bakhtiari in Sirathu Tehsil, Rambabu Dwivedi,60, owned five bighas of land but had suffered crop loss in last two years due to bad weather.

He had taken a loan of Rs 5 lakh from different banks and has recently received a recovery notice from a cooperative bank.

Rambabu went missing from home on Tuesday night and his body was spotted hanging from a tree next morning.

Deceased son Devendra said his father was in depression over repayment of loans.

He is survived by his wife Urmila, daughter Archana, sons Devendra, Brijendra and Raghvendra.

The family, which has no source of income except their agricultural land, was inconsolable.

Brijendra, Raghvendra and Archana live in Allahabad where they are studying and give tuitions to children to support their educational expenses.

SDM Sirathu Vivek Chaturvedi said tehsildar has been instructed to conduct an inquiry into the incident. “The family of the farmer will be provided help through government schemes after the report is received,” he added.

Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha leader Vikas Yadav, who visited the aggrieved family, claimed he spoke to former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav who had announced financial relief of Rs 1 lakh to the deceased family.

Bhartiya Kisan Union district president Balbeer Singh Chauhan said the state government is not serious towards the welfare of farmers.

“BKU will launch an agitation if administration fails to provide relief to the deceased farmer’s family,” Chauhan warned. Other farmer organisations also expressed rage over the incident and held the state government responsible for the pitiable condition of the farmers.