"I have asked the district collectors of Balangir and Sambalpur to probe the circumstances under which the farmers committed suicide," Agriculture Minister Pradeep Kumar Maharathy said while expressing grief over the farmers' alleged suicide incidents.
Maharathy said that he came to know about the farmers' suicide from media reports and has also asked the district agriculture officers to visit the houses of the farmers.
"I will soon visit the districts where farmers committed suicide," the minister said.
Dharua's body was found hanging on a tree yesterday. Dharua's wife said that her husband in 2000 had taken a loan of Rs 17,000 at 11 per cent interest from a bank. The money was utilised for purchase of a water pump.
However, unable to repay the loan in the stipulated time, he was served a notice by the bank. Dharua, who was undertaking cultivation in 4 acres of land on share basis, also suffered due to crop loss, his wife said, adding that he was under severe mental stress which drove him to hang himself from a tree.
In another such incident, farmer Sanatan Mirdha of Jharjhari village also allegedly committed suicide over crop loss in Sambalpur district today.
The family members of the deceased have alleged that unable to cope with the stress due to crop loss, Mirdha took his life.
Family members said Mirdha had cultivated paddy on three acres of land. However, the crop yield was poor due to inadequate rainfall. Sanatan had taken debt of about Rs 40,000 from private persons for the paddy cultivation. Seeing no other way to repay the debt due to crop loss, he hanged himself near his house, family members said.