Another debt-ridden Madhya Pradesh farmer kills self; Congress claims death toll in state now 60

Sagar (Madhya Pradesh): A 48-year-old farmer killed himself, apparently by jumping before a train on the Sagar-Damoh railway track, the police said on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_3794273” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Farmers have been protesting in Madhya Pradesh since the last month. PTI[/caption] According to the kin of the deceased, Tejram Kurmi was indebted since the last two years. “Tejram Kurmi rang up his son Avdhi in the evening and told him that due to the debt burden he was going to end his life. His mutilated body was found in the morning on the Sagar-Damoh railway track near Nihora bridge,” Sanoda police station inspector Mahendra Singh Jagait said. He said the police are investigating the cause behind Kurmi taking the extreme step. Avadhi said his father owed Rs 3 lakh to creditors since the last couple of years. “My father’s trouble increased after our soybean crop sown in six acres failed,” he claimed. Meanwhile, state Congress spokesman KK Mishra said that 60 farmers have committed suicide primarily due to indebtedness in the state so far since the beginning of the last month. “The government should waive their loans immediately to check the disturbing trend of suicides being committed by the farmers,” he said. Waiving of loans was among the prominent demands raised by farmers during their stir in June, which witnessed the deaths of five peasants in the police firing in Mandsaur.