Odisha govt claims no farmer committed suicide in state due to agricultural issues

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Wednesday claimed that no farmer in the state committed suicide due to agriculture-related issues though 18 such allegations were made during 2016-17 and 2017-18. Odisha Agriculture and Farmer Empowerment Minister Damodar Rout said the state government had received information about 11 farmer suicides in 2016-17 and seven in 2017-18. “No farmer has committed suicide due to agriculture-related problems as per information received by our department,” he said in the Assembly while replying to a written question of Congress member Bhujabal Majhi. [caption id=“attachment_4201433” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Rout said all 18 cases were jointly probed by the district collector and superintendent of police of the districts concerned. “The state government has taken a number of measures to prevent farmer suicides,” the minister said. The opposition Congress and BJP, however, rejected the state government’s claim and termed the minister’s statement “unfortunate”. They alleged a number of farmers had committed suicide due to crop loss and loan burden in the state. “We demand a judicial inquiry into all farmer suicides. It is unfortunate that the state government has been denying agriculture issues were not a reason behind them,” said BJP MLA Pradip Purohit. Congress chief whip Taraprasad Bahinipati said: “It is a shame that the state government does not attribute farmer suicides to agricultural issues.”