AHMEDABAD: A 34-year-old farmer allegedly committed suicide in Rajkot district of Gujarat late Sunday night as he was apparently distressed over his mounting debts, police said.
The farmer had also suffered financial losses in digging a well for farming, they said. According to police, this is the sixth such incident reported in Gujarat in the last two months.
The farmer, Shivraj Manjaria, hanged himself at his residence in Gitanagar village in Jasdan taluka of Rajkot district, around 200 kms from here, on the night of November 11, a police officer said.
During the probe, it was learnt that Manjaria was depressed after he incurred losses in digging a well on a five bigha farm land gifted to him by his father-in-law at nearby Vinchhia village, he said.
"His relatives told us that Manjaria was already under a debt of Rs 1 lakh. In addition, he incurred losses in digging a well on the land given to him by his father-in-law.
Although some amount of water was found in the well, it was not enough to irrigate his farm," said Assistant Sub Inspector Raja Vakotar. "We believe that both these factors might have led Manjaria to take the extreme step," he added.
Police said six farmers committed suicide in different districts of Gujarat, including Surendranagar, Jamnagar, Porbandar and Amreli, in the last two months either due to crop failure or mounting debts.
As per the latest figures released by the Gujarat government, the state is staring at scarcity of water as it had received just 76.72 per cent of the average rainfall this monsoon.