BHUBANESWAR: The Government on Tuesday informed the Assembly that 227 farmers committed suicide in the State during the last five years, but none of them due to crop loss and loan burden.
Agriculture Minister Pradip Maharathy informed this in a written reply to a question from Sanatan Mahakud (Ind). “A total of 227 farmers committed suicide between 2013-14 and 2017-18. However, loan burden was not the reason for them to take the extreme step,” Maharathy said.
The Minister said the farmers committed suicide due to several reasons including family disputes and consumption of alcohol due to quarrel in the family. In one case in Agalpur block of Balangir district, the cause of suicide was cited as “not known, but not due to crop loss”. In another case reported from Loisingha block of Balangir, the Minister said the death was due to old age.
Maharathy also said out of the 227 alleged farmer suicides, the case of Brunda Sahu of Bargarh district, who committed suicide on November 1, 2017, was still under investigation. “The alleged suicide may not be due to debt burden and investigation is on,” he added.