PARALAKHEMUNDI: Distressed over crop loss due to scanty rainfall and mounting debt, a farmer reportedly took his own life in Gajapati district two days back. The deceased farmer was identified as 33-year-old Goura Chandra Karji of Patachanchada village within Adava police limits. He reportedly consumed insecticide at his home on Tuesday night. Late in the night, Karji started to vomit profusely. He was rushed to Mohana hospital and later shifted to MKCG Medical College and Hospital at Berhampur. However, he succumbed on the way.
Sources said Karji owned less than one acre of land but cultivated around eight acre as a sharecropper. The farmer was reportedly sustaining crop loss since the last two years and could not repay the loans he had taken for cultivation. This year, he had borrowed around `4 lakh and sowed maize seeds in five acre of land and paddy in the remaining patch.
But due to lack of water for irrigation, the maize seeds dried out at germination stage while the paddy fields developed cracks. Unable to bear the loss and finding no other way to repay the loans, Karji consumed insecticide, alleged his wife Kuni. However, she said the persons from whom her husband took loans never pressurised him to repay the money. Karji reportedly used to take loans from them since the last one decade and also repaid the money on time.
On being informed about the incident, Mohana tehsildar Himanshu Bhusan Palai along with a team reached Patachanchada village and recorded the statements of Karji’s family members and other villagers. On Thursday, chief district agriculture officer of Gajapati E Pradhan also visited the village for further inquiry.
Pradhan said Karji was included in the state government’s KALIA Yojana and provided all the benefits. Even seeds were supplied to him this year. Police said an unnatural death case was registered and the deceased’s body handed over to his family after autopsy. Incidentally, the land cultivated by Karji is situated near Harabhangi reservoir. As there is no provision of water supply from the reservoir, farmers of the area depend on rainwater for cultivation.