Seeking permanent solution to their financial woes on account of heavy losses incurred due to use of spurious seed supplied to them, Vadderapu Tirupati Rao, Banala Purnaiah and Gogonu Ramaiah, chilli farmers from Arugolu village in Gampalagudem mandal of Krishna district, attempted suicide in front of a police station in Vijayawada on Wednesday. The incident created a flutter.
If distressed farmers resorting to the extreme step at an increasing regularity is disturbing, non-implementation of G.O. Ms. No. 62 in respect of ex gratia and rehabilitation to the families of farmers who committed suicide is another major cause of concern.
According to data obtained from the Crime Records Bureau of the 13 districts by the Human Rights Forum (HRF), 1,498 farmers had committed suicide since June in 2014. But only 296 families received ex gratia under GO 62. According to the GO, a committee consisting of the RDO, agriculture officer and the DSP is required to verify the death and submit a report to the government following which the government gives ₹5 lakh to the family as compensation.
In Chief Minister’s home district Chittoor, 32 farmers ended their lives since 2014 but the kin of only a handful of them had been granted aid. In some cases, the names cleared for ex gratia too have not received it.
A six-member HRF team visited seven villages in six mandals of two revenue divisions of Chittoor and Madanapalle to look into eight cases of farmers’ suicides. They interacted with the village residents to elicit facts and found that the kin of all the eight deceased were eligible for financial assistance and rehabilitation package.
“In all these cases, it is clearly established that there was correlation between farm related operations, economic distress and social humiliation, eventually leading to suicide. The GO 62 provides for financial assistance as an interim relief package to support such families, in the form of an ex gratia of ₹1.5 lakh as one-time settlement to creditors,” said K. Sudha, general secretary of the Forum.
Shocked
She said the Forum members were shocked to learn that this three-member committee had not visited even one of the seven villages. “In fact, even the tehsildar has not visited the village to gather details of the cases in six of the villages,” she said.
The HRF demands that the officials visit the villages and ensure that their families get their rightful aid. It sent a letter to Chittoor district Collector P. S. Pradyumna seeking immediate action.
