Bharatpur farmer commits suicide over loans, villagers demand debt waiver
FINAL CALL Bhagwan Singh was found hanging from an iron pole by his wife who had gone to serve him tea THE FAMILY OWNED FOUR ACRES OF AGRICULTURE LAND IN THE VILLAGE BUT IT DIDN’T HARVEST CROPS FOR LAST FEW YEARS DUE TO
WATER SHORTAGE BHARATPUR:
A 45-year-old farmer committed suicide in Bharatpur’s Jatauli Thoon village on Sundaynight, the police said. His body was brought to Deeg communityhealth centre (CHC) for a post-mortemonMondayandhas been handed over to the family.
Bhagwan Singh was found hangingfromanironpoleat6am on Monday by his wife, Hardei, who had gone there to serve him tea. He was sleeping in the cattle pen nearly 50 metre from the house.
Villagers gathered at the spot after hearing Hardei’s cries. Theybroughtthebodydownand informed the police. According to the villagers, Singh was upset as he had a burden of agriculture debts from the bank and village moneylenders and had also suffered crop loss due to water shortage.
Singh has two sons —Jagat Singh who is pursuing graduation and Akash Singh, a class 9 student. His two daughters are married. Jagat Singh said that the family owned four acres of agriculture land in the village but it didn’t harvest crops for last three-four years due to water shortage.
“My father had taken ₹5 lakh loan from a bank and ₹6 lakh from the village moneylenders for the wedding of his two daughters last year. He was worried about the huge debt,” Jagat Singh said.
Jogendra Singh, a villager, said that he had met Bhagwan Singh two days ago. “He looked worried. He asked me for money to repay his debts,” he said.
Hardei said that they had got a notice from the bank a few days ago. “Village moneylenders were also pressurising us to pay the debt,” she added.
Station house officer (SHO) of Deeg police Kanheya Lal said that the body has been kept at a mortuary. Villagers, including the deceased’s family, registered a complaint about the suicide due to the debt burden.
Bharatpurzilaparishadmember Nem Singh said that farmers in the district have been facing water crisis for a long time. “We have agitated several times to demandwaterfromtheYamuna through Gungaon canalinHaryana but in vain,” he said.
Villagers, led by Nem Singh, handedoveramemorandumfor the Chief Minister to sub-division magistrate Dulichand Meena demanding debt waiver and compensation for the deceased’s family.
Earlier, two farmers had committed suicide over crop failure in April and June.
Rajasthan, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh signed a pact on May 12, 1994, to release 1,280 cusecs of Yamuna water for Bharatpur.
According to the pact between Rajasthan and Haryana governments, the district should receive 500 cusecs of water every day through the Gurgaon canal. Not only water crisis, Bharatpur farmers have been facing frequent power cuts.
The district produces 3.50 lakh tonnes of mustard on 2.10 lakh hectare of land.
Nearly 3,90,313 hectare of agriculture land is affected with salinity out of the gross cropped area of 5,070,73 hectare in the district.