Bhubaneswar: Extensive crop loss and distress caused by unseasonal rains reportedly claimed the lives of two more farmers in Odisha.
While a farmer allegedly ended his life by consuming pesticide in Sambalpur district, another died reportedly following a heart attack over huge crop damage, sources said.
As per information, a 57-year-old distressed farmer allegedly took his life at Bairagipali village in Jujumura block in Sambalpur district. Saturday. The farmer, identified as Ratnakar Bhoi, took the extreme step by consuming pesticide.
Sources said Ratnakar had grown paddy over two acres of land. He was expecting to harvest around 150 packets of paddy. However, due to unfavourable climatic condition including erratic rainfall, his hopes of a good harvest were dashed. Recently, the farmer harvested his crop and could only gather less than 50 packets of paddy from his land. Since then, Ratnakar was in a state of distress.
In Cuttack district, another farmer reportedly died on Monday at a village in Odisha’s Cuttack district over crop loss. Indrajit Chatoi (48) of Sumandi village died after a massive heart as the paddy crops raised by him got destroyed due to the rains last month.
Family members of the deceased farmer claimed that Indrajit had visited his fields on Sunday and was stressed after witnessing the crop damage. He was worried as to how he would feed his family and clear the debts.
On his return from the field, he had dinner and slept in his room. However, he did not wake up in the morning, despite being called by his family members. His family members rushed him to a nearby hospital where the doctor declared him dead.
Another farmer, Kailash Pradhan (75), had also died earlier of heart attack reportedly for the same reason.
Earlier, a farmer named Kailash Chandra Dhal from Koladiha village in Kendrapada district took his own life by consuming poison, allegedly due to severe crop loss.
Reports stated that Dhal had cultivated paddy on 8 acres, but the crop was largely destroyed by the unseasonal and incessant spell of rains that began on December 19. Facing mounting financial pressure from a loan of around Rs 2.5 to Rs 3 lakh, Dhal suffered severe mental distress, leading to his tragic decision.
Preceding the above ordeals, on January 3, two farmers from the Ranpur block of Nayagarh died of shock after witnessing the destruction of their harvest.
The Odisha government declared last month’s spell of rains as a state calamity and announced a compensation package of Rs 291 crore to all affected farmers, including those who grew crops other than paddy.
