Five more farmers end life in Odisha

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar: A day after Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced his government’s decision to reschedule agriculture loans, as many as five farmers’ suicides were recorded from different regions of the State today.“As you know the State Government is implementing a drought package of about 1000 crores of rupees.The State Government has already taken the decision to re-schedule agriculture loans and strong action will also be taken against unscrupulous money lenders,” Patnaik had said after returning from New Delhi on Sunday.“The State Government will take all out efforts to mitigate the sufferings of our farmers and protect their interest,” he had said.The five farmer suicides in last 12 hours across the state allegedly due to crop loss made the opposition blame the Naveen Patnaik Government for the farm crisis that is getting acute in the State.The suicides were reported from Bhadrak, Dhenkanal, Bargarh, Ganjam and Keonjhar during the day today.Opposition Congress and BJP has criticised the BJD government for the faulty special package for drought-hit farmers and taking the whole crisis casually.Patnaik has not visited a single home where distressed farmers affected by the prevailing drought-like situation committed suicides during the last few weeks.