ADILABAD/HYDERABAD: Responding to the death of tenant farmer Gokul Rathod in Adilabad, BRS MLA and former minister T Harish Rao on Sunday alleged that as many as 402 farmers ended their lives by suicide in just one year due to the indifferent attitude of the Congress government.
Forty-year-old Gokul Rathod, who had been cultivating a rented farmland for the last 20 years, was unable to pay `6.8 lakh loans he obtained from banks. On January 12, he reportedly consumed pesticide and his family rushed him to RIMS hospital, where he breathed his last while undergoing treatment on Sunday.
Expressing his anger over “rise in farmer suicides”, Harish Rao said: “The government claims that it waived crop loans of all farmers. Then why are farmers ending their lives?”
Alleging that the government failed to instil confidence among farmers, the BRS leader said that it was playing with the lives of farmers.
Stating that the government should be held responsible for farmer suicides, Harish Rao said: “The BRS government turned agriculture into a profitable avocation. But the Revanth Reddy regime pushed the sector into a deep crisis.”
The former minister urged the farmers not to take the extreme step. “Suicide is not the solution to your problems. The BRS will continue to fight on behalf of the farmers till the Congress government implements all election assurances,” he added.