Implement GO 43 effectively, HRF urges govt

According to the HRF and RSV leaders, all the six deceased were tenant farmers.
Implement GO 43 effectively, HRF urges govt

VIJAYAWADA: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) and the Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) have urged the State government to take immediate measures for effective implementation of GO 43, which provides a compensation of Rs 7 lakh and rehabilitates the families of farmers who committed suicide. “There has already been considerable delay in the matter and we sincerely hope the government does not prevaricate it anymore,” the HRF said.

HRF and RSV leaders visited six families of farmers, who died by suicide between August 2020 and December 2021, in three mandals of Vuyyuru division in Krishna district on April 8. VS Krishna, HRF Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Coordination Committee member, B Kondal, RSV State committee member, K Anuradha and G Rohith, HRF State executive committee members, who visited the families of victims, said they probed the reasons for suicide and whether the government had come to their aid or not.

According to the HRF and RSV leaders, all the six deceased were tenant farmers. All the families of victims are in distress. None of the families has received any assistance from the government as is laid out in the GO 43. The three-member divisional verification and certification committee, consisting of the RDO, assistant director of agriculture and DSP, has not visited any of the families of suicide victims to determine whether they are eligible for the relief envisaged in the GO 43. In all except one case, even the mandal-level committeehas not spoken to the family members of deceased farmers or other people in the village. “We have little reason to believe the situation is any different in other divisions of district,” they said.

“If they went about their job diligently, they could have easily established that all the tenant farmers are eligible for financial assistance and rehabilitation as mentioned in the GO 43. As the requisite inquiries have not taken place as per the provisions of GO 43, the families of deceased farmers have been left high and dry,” the HRF leaders explained.

The HRF and the RSV strongly urged the government to see that all the cases of reported farmer suicides are investigated at the earliest.

‘GO 43 needs to be amended’

There is a pressing need to amend the GO 43 and incorporate a provision of one-time loan settlement in the financial package so as to mitigate the debt burden of the victims’ families, the HRF leaders said

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