Farmer suicide toll rises as Odisha stares at drought

Sulochana DasBhubaneswar: The total number of distressed farmers committing suicide in Odisha is increasing by the day as the State stares drought.At least 36 farmers have committed suicide over the past few weeks.And 16 of the total 30 districts of Odisha are facing drought-like situation.Two distressed farmers had committed in the State on Saturday leading to a war of words in the political arena of the State.Meanwhile, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Prasad Harichandan visited the houses the farmer who committed suicide on Saturday in Jajpur district and at Banki in Cuttack district.The local leaders were present during his visits.Incidents of farmer suicides have been reported from all the regions of Odisha in the recent weeks with farmers with loan burden are committing suicides as a drought-like situation has been created in their localities due to scanty rainfall during the monsoon months.The paddy crop has been severely affected in many districts, including several coastal districts.Opposition Congress has been strongly blaming the Naveen Patnaik Government for the drought-like situation prevailing in most parts of Odisha.BJP too has been criticizing the State government over the crisis in the farm sector.The party has announced that they would organise the second phase of Jagaran Yatra at Nuapada on October 30 and Nabarangpur on October 31.The issue of farmer suicides will be the main focus of the padyatra in the two districts. The Congress had held the first phase of the Jagaran Yatra (padyatra) under the leadership of Harichandan in Angul and Dhenkanal districts recently.Most of the senior leaders of the party in the State along with AICC general secretary and in-charge of Odisha B.K.Hariprasad and AICC secretary and Odisha in-charge Subhankar Sarkar had taken part in the padyatra on both days.Thousands of people, mostly farmers, had joined the Jagaran Yatra in Angul and Dhenkanal districts.Earlier, Congress vice-president had visited Bargarh to take out a Kisan Padyatra at Atabira in Bargarh district on September 10.The seven-km-long padyatra by Rahul Gandhi had given a boost to the party in the State.The Congress has been successful in organising the Jagaran Yatra in the State.The party plans to organise similar padyatras till April next year to highlight different issues such as farmer suicides, unemployment, power crisis and corruption at all levels of the administration.The party has also set up a control room with two helpline numbers (0674-2535577/2533551) for distressed farmers in the State on October 21.The party has been receiving many distressed calls from affected farmers in different regions of the State.