M A I N   N E W S

Unsold paddy claims farmer’s life
Arun Sharma
Tribune News Service

Nadala (Kapurthala), October 3
The rising helplessness of the state’s farming community resurfaced today when the body of a farmer was found hanging from a tree in the Nadala Grain Market early this morning here.

Gurdev Singh (50), a resident of Batala village, ended his life by hanging himself from a tree in the grain market late last night.

The deceased, who had harvested paddy in his four acres of land in the village, had been putting up in the grain market here since September 27, waiting for buyers for his produce.

“My husband had cleared loans worth Rs 6 lakh after selling one acre of land last year, but the loan amounting to Rs 1.5 lakh was still to be repaid. We were finding it hard to repay the loan as there was no buyer in the market for our produce,” said a wailing Balwinder Kaur, widow of Gurdev Singh. She cited debt and failure to sell the produce as the reasons that led to her husband’s suicide.

“I found my father rather irritated when I went to deliver food to him last night,” said Major Singh, the elder son of the deceased. Kulwinder Singh, the deceased farmer’s younger son, said the erosion of more than two acres of cultivable land due to the change in the Beas River’s course had added to their woes.

As soon as the news of the suicide spread in the region, members of various kisan unions, political parties and people from adjoining villages, along with the relatives of the deceased, started assembling at Nadala Chowk. They staged a dharna to protest against the alleged failure of the government in securing the interests of the farmers.

Mr Sameer Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, Kapurthala, announced that he would recommend to the state government a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the deceased farmer’s family. He assured the family that the administration would provide every possible help to them. He ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident and asked the procurement agencies to speed up the procurement process. Till today evening, 75,000 bags of paddy were bought by various agencies.

Later, Bibi Jagir Kaur, President, SGPC, and local MLA also reached the spot and announced a help of Rs 2 lakh to the farmer’s family.

The police has registered a case under Section 174 of the IPC. The deceased was cremated in his village after the post-mortem examination.

The farmers here had been staging dharnas at Nadala Chowk since last Friday to protest against the slow procurement of paddy. Heavy rains in the last week of September had resulted in high moisture content and discolouration of the crop. The government procurement agencies were finding themselves helpless in procuring the produce because of strict instructions from the FCI and the Central government not to purchase the crop exceeding 17 per cent of moisture content and 3 per cent of damage to the grain.

According to official figures submitted to the Centre by the Punjab government, 2,118 farmers have ended their lives since 1987. The actual number is said to be much larger.