Hyderabad HC asks Telangana, AP to explain farmers' suicides

PILs have been filed by two NGOs against the alleged apathy being shown towards the farmers' issues by the respective governments

The Hyderabad High Court on Tuesday asked Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments as to what steps have been taken to prevent the farmers suicides in respective states.

The direction comes on a day Telangana state legislative assembly held a day-long session to discuss the farmers' problems in the wake of recent spate of suicides.

Hearing the public interest litigation (PIL) petitions filed by two non-government organisations (NGOs) against the alleged apathy being shown towards the farmers' issues by the respective governments, high court chief justice Dilip B Bhosale said a lasting solution needed to be found by the governments save farmers from extreme distress.

"Just enhancing the amount of exgratia to the family of the deceased will not solve the problem. The governments have to find the root cause of the issue and a permanent solution has to be evolved to address the problem. It is sad to read a lot of reports on farmers' suicides these days," Justice Bhosale said.

Justice Bhosale was reacting to a reply by a counsel representing Telangana government who informed the court that the government had recently enhanced the exgratia to the families of the deceased as a part of addressing the issue.

Petitioners alleged that the government of both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have been indifferent to the crisis being faced by farmers who were subjected to extreme financial distress due to failed crops, mounting debt among other issues.

When AP government's counsel tried to explain the steps being taken by his client to address these problems, the chief justice asked the two governments to explain what all they had done to prevent the suicides in their counter affidavits. The next hearing was posted to October 13.

Telangana government has recently enhanced the e-xgratia to Rs 6 lakh from Rs 1.5 lakh to the families of those who committed suicides as it came under sever criticism by the opposition parties on the question of farmers' distress especially in the wake of a widespread crop failure in the region under the impact of prolonged dry spells in the ongoing Kharif season.

The state government had admitted that around 350 suicides in the state were reported so far. However the opposition parties claimed that the number could be as high as 1,500.