Nine kill self in 90 days, govt still ‘assessing’ losses
Farmers in Orissa are a distressed lot. This year, their misery
has been compounded further by heavy crop losses due to poor rainfall. And to add to their woes, the crop they toiled to grow has been devoured by swarming insects. A conjuction of these factors have hit cultivators so badly that many of them are struggling to pay their loans.
The worst hit are the farmers of western Orissa which is considered to be the rice bowl of the state. Till now, nine farmers in the state have been reported to have committed suicide in the last three months. Out of them, six are from western Orissa. And with little help coming from the Naveen Patnaik government, they have resorted to agitation. Angry farmers blocked the national highway in Jharsuguda district for 12 hours to protest farmers’ suicides in Jharsuguda district.
Ashok Pradhan, prominent farmers’ leader and convener of the Western Orissa Farmers’ Coordination Committee, lashed out at government officials for their failure to take timely action. “The government was well aware of the situation but it failed to address the crisis. We had alerted the officials well in advance. But, neither the district administration nor the state agriculture department took any precautionary measure. We will teach this government a lesson, ” he said, putting the whole blame on the government.
Worse, there are regions in the state that don’t even have basic irrigation facilities. Jamenkira, Kuchinda and Rengali blocks of Sambalpur and Lakhanpur block of Jharsuguda district are some of them. Being close to the Hirakud reservoir, the land here is at a higher plane from the water level. Lift irrigation is the only solution in these areas. But what happens if 90 per cent of the government-sponsored lift points are defunct?
The government’s lackadaisical approach in tackling the crisis has even upset a former judge of Orissa High Court, Choudhary Pratap Kesari Mishra. Justice Mishra, who visited the drought-hit areas and villages where farmers have committed suicide, asked the government to be proactive to bring farmers out of this difficult situation. “And if it fails to do so, the government will have to pay a heavy price for ignoring the farmers,” he told TSI. The crisis has given the state Opposition enough ammunition to bay for BJD chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s blood. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ally of the BJD till the other day, has also sought the chief minister’s resignation for his government’s utter failure to protect farmers’ interests in the state.
BJP spokesperson Nayan Mohanty and vice-president Pruthiraj Harichandan said the government lacked political will and administrative acumen to address the explosive situation. They also criticised the chief minister of trying to suppress such a sensitive issue with the help of ‘false’ official reports. Naveen Patnaik has also drawn flak for not visiting the villages where cases of farmers’ suicide have been reported from. The Orissa government’s reaction to the accusations has been shocking. It says that relief measures will be announced only after its officials assess the situation. For this purpose, a team of divisional officers from the revenue and agriculture department has been formed to conduct an assessment of crop losses in the districts. But can the impoverished farmers wait till then?
Farmers in Orissa are a distressed lot. This year, their misery
has been compounded further by heavy crop losses due to poor rainfall. And to add to their woes, the crop they toiled to grow has been devoured by swarming insects. A conjuction of these factors have hit cultivators so badly that many of them are struggling to pay their loans.The worst hit are the farmers of western Orissa which is considered to be the rice bowl of the state. Till now, nine farmers in the state have been reported to have committed suicide in the last three months. Out of them, six are from western Orissa. And with little help coming from the Naveen Patnaik government, they have resorted to agitation. Angry farmers blocked the national highway in Jharsuguda district for 12 hours to protest farmers’ suicides in Jharsuguda district.
Ashok Pradhan, prominent farmers’ leader and convener of the Western Orissa Farmers’ Coordination Committee, lashed out at government officials for their failure to take timely action. “The government was well aware of the situation but it failed to address the crisis. We had alerted the officials well in advance. But, neither the district administration nor the state agriculture department took any precautionary measure. We will teach this government a lesson, ” he said, putting the whole blame on the government.
Worse, there are regions in the state that don’t even have basic irrigation facilities. Jamenkira, Kuchinda and Rengali blocks of Sambalpur and Lakhanpur block of Jharsuguda district are some of them. Being close to the Hirakud reservoir, the land here is at a higher plane from the water level. Lift irrigation is the only solution in these areas. But what happens if 90 per cent of the government-sponsored lift points are defunct?
The government’s lackadaisical approach in tackling the crisis has even upset a former judge of Orissa High Court, Choudhary Pratap Kesari Mishra. Justice Mishra, who visited the drought-hit areas and villages where farmers have committed suicide, asked the government to be proactive to bring farmers out of this difficult situation. “And if it fails to do so, the government will have to pay a heavy price for ignoring the farmers,” he told TSI. The crisis has given the state Opposition enough ammunition to bay for BJD chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s blood. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), an ally of the BJD till the other day, has also sought the chief minister’s resignation for his government’s utter failure to protect farmers’ interests in the state.
BJP spokesperson Nayan Mohanty and vice-president Pruthiraj Harichandan said the government lacked political will and administrative acumen to address the explosive situation. They also criticised the chief minister of trying to suppress such a sensitive issue with the help of ‘false’ official reports. Naveen Patnaik has also drawn flak for not visiting the villages where cases of farmers’ suicide have been reported from. The Orissa government’s reaction to the accusations has been shocking. It says that relief measures will be announced only after its officials assess the situation. For this purpose, a team of divisional officers from the revenue and agriculture department has been formed to conduct an assessment of crop losses in the districts. But can the impoverished farmers wait till then?
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