Report of panel on farmers' suicides in next Assembly session

A Punjab Assembly panel on farmers' suicides will table its report in the House in the next session, its chairman Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria said here today.
Sarkaria, accompanied by committee members Nathu Ram, Kuljit Singh Nagra and Harinderpal Singh Chandumajra, visited Khan Khaana village near here to meet the family members of Balkar Singh, a farmer who had committed suicide recently, to get a first-hand information about the reasons which made the farmer take the extreme step.
Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana KP Singh had constituted the committee for meeting families of farmers who had committed suicide.
During the visit, the committee members interacted with Balkar Singh's wife Hardip Kaur, mother Kulveer Kaur and father Sukhdev Singh, among other family members. They enquired about the family's landholding, financial condition and loans, if any, besides the compensation given to them by the state government.

Sarkaria said the committee members had already visited all the districts of the state except Patiala and that its report would be tabled in the House in its next session.
He said the committee, which had members from all the main political parties so as to ensure a consensual approach on this grave issue facing the state, had been constituted to look into the factors which made the farmers and farm labourers take the extreme step of committing suicide.

"Apart from mentioning the reasons behind farmers and farm labourers' suicides, the report will also suggest steps to prevent such suicides including steps to improve their economic condition," said Sarkaria.

He urged the district administration to always have a sympathetic attitude towards such families by arranging for social security pensions and job cards to the dependents of the deceased.
Deputy Commissioner Sonali Giri told the panel that eight such families including that of Balkar Singh in the district had already been given such benefits.