Sirsa farmer commits suicide after whitefly damages crop

CHANDERPAL (56), WHO WAS REPORTEDLY UNDER DEPRESSION, HANGED HIMSELF FROM A TREE IN HIS FIELD IN SAHUWALA VILLAGE

SIRSA: A farmer committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in his field in Sahuwala village in the district, allegedly in the wake of loss of his cotton crop due to whitefly attack, police said on Monday.

Chanderpal ( 56), who was reportedly under depression, did not return home from his field on Sunday night. His family members found him hanging in the field on Monday morning.

Police sent his body for postmortem and started investigations.

The family of the deceased said that he had cultivated the cotton crop over his 9-acre land. But the whitefly damaged the crop and he was worried that he would not earn enough money from his crop. He had also taken loan and feared that he would not be able to repay the loan, they added.

70 TO 80% COTTON CROP DAMAGED IN DABWALI

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the agriculture department last week revealed that 70 to 80% cotton crop had been damaged by the attack of whitefly on cotton crop in Dabwali area of Sirsa district.

District coordinator of National Farmers Organisation Jaspir Singh Bhatti had conducted a meeting in Anaj Mandi at Dabwali on Sunday on the raging effects of the whitefly on the cotton crop.

He said that agriculture department has conducted a survey last week but the damage had increased now. Accordingly, the department should conduct a new survey soon and find some solution to the problem at the earliest, failing which the entire crop of cotton would be lost in the area.

In the meeting, the farmers decided to gather in front of the SDM office on September 1 to hand over a memorandum addressed to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

He said that they would demand proper compensation from the government for the farmers whose crop got damaged due to the pest attack.