DHENKANAL:A 50-year-old farmer of Beltikiri village under Sadar block of the district on Wednesday committed suicide by hanging in his house.
Sources said Aswini Sahoo allegedly took the extreme step after failing to repay the loan borrowed from different sources for farming and crop damage due to lack of irrigation facilities. His family members immediately took him to the district headquarters hospital (DHH) at Dhenkanal, but the doctors declared him dead.
Sahoo had borrowed loan of around `four lakh from different sources, including cooperative society, to cultivate around four acres of land this year. He lost his mental balance after the crop got damaged due to scanty rainfall and lack of irrigation facilities to his crop fields, sources added. An FIR in this regard has been filed at Sadar Police station.
A BJP team, led by former Rajya Sabha member Rudra Narayan Pany, rushed to the spot and condoled his death. He said his party has been demanding before the State Government to declare Dhenkanal as drought-hit district. But the Government is yet to act in this regard, he added.
Former BJP MLA and State OBC Morcha president Krushna Chandra Patra and State Krushaka Morcha vice-president Ram Chandra Patra demanded `10 lakh as compensation for the victim's family.
Meanwhile, the district administration has ordered a joint probe by the officials of Revenue, Agriculture and police into the incident. Similarly, `12,000 has been released to the deceased family, informed Collector Bhupendra Singh Poonia.