VISAKHAPATNAM: Human Rights Forum (HRF), Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV), and BC Welfare Association (BCWA) have urged the State government to implement Government Order No. 43 and provide Rs 7 lakh compensation and a rehabilitation package to the family of Balleda Narasimha Murthy, a 58-year-old farmer at Kanchili mandal of Srikakulam district. Murthy died by suicide on April 9 after falling into debt due to repeated crop failures. The rights groups said Murthy had cultivated cashew and coconut on one acre of his land and leased eight additional acres.
“With no access to institutional credit, he borrowed from private lenders at high interest. Years of low rainfall and pest attacks on his coconut crop pushed him into distress. Pressured by moneylenders and unable to support his family, he consumed pesticide,” they noted.
A six-member fact-finding team from the organisations visited the village on May 16 and met the victim’s wife Neelaveni, son Praveen and other local farmers.
They criticised the lack of administrative action, claiming that the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO)-led divisional verification committee, mandated to conduct an inquiry within a week under GO No. 43, had not visited the village.