MACHILIPATNAM: A 70-year-old farmer in Kakarlapudi village of Pedana mandal committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree in his backyard on Friday, reportedly fearing loss of his land in the land acquisition for seaport development at Machilipatnam.
Lingam Venkateswara Rao owned 10 cents of land and had recently put it up for sale so as to perform the first death anniversary of his beloved wife in a grand manner. Another farmer in the village had agreed to buy the land and even paid him `10,000 as advance.
However, once the land acquisition notification was issued for Machilipatnam seaport, the farmer who gave the advance took it back as the 10 cents of Rao was also to be acquired along with land (864 acres) belonging to other 1,878 farmers in the village. He tried to find other buyers, but no one showed interest and some said he was wasting time trying to sell the land.
According to locals, Venkateswara Rao, depressed over not being able to perform the death anniversary of his wife, took the extreme step. Police shifted the body to Machilipatnam Government Hospital for autopsy and registered a case. Rao is survived by two daughters and a son. Pedana MLA K Venkatarao, BJP leader V Vasudeva Rao and others visited the bereaved family and consoled them.