Another farmer death makes Uttarakhand go slow on loan recovery

The death of a debt-ridden farmer due to heart attack in Khatima area of Uttarakhand’s Udham Singh Nagar district on Saturday has forced the state BJP government to go slow in recovering farmer loans.

Bhajan Singh, 65, a farmer of Partapur area of Khatima who was under a debt of ₹20 lakh, died of a heart attack following alleged pressure of loan recovery by revenue officials. He apparently suffered a fatal heart attack after getting a phone call from a revenue official regarding recovery of loan on Saturday.

He is the fifth farmer who has died within two months in Uttarakhand. Four debt-ridden farmers have committed suicide in the state since June this year.

The Uttarakhand BJP government which had promised to waive off the loan of debt ridden farmers during the state assembly polls has gone back on its promise and has decided to waive off the interest on the loans instead. This has led to spate of suicides, unheard of in the hill state of Uttarakhand.

After the death of Bhajan Singh, state Cooperative Minister Dhan Singh Rawat announced that the state government will not send notices to debt-ridden farmers and recovery of only principal amount would be made from the family members of the deceased farmers on easy instalments.

The first suicide of a farmer was reported from Pithoragarh district while the rest of the deaths are from Udham Singh Nagar in Terai region known as the ‘grain bowl’ of the state.

The spate of suicides in a short span of time has given Opposition, Congress, an opportunity to hit at the ruling BJP on its poll promise. The Congress under the leadership of state Congress Chief Pritam Singh held state-wide protest against the plight of farmers last week and also submitted a memorandum to President Pranab Mukherjee during his recent visit to Dehradun last week. Senior party leaders also visited the bereaved families of farmers.

Former Chief Minister Harish Rawat visited the family of Bhajan Singh in Khatima on Saturday and paid a sum of ₹1.5 lakh to the family from his pocket. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat claimed that his government was totally committed to the welfare of the farmers and would ensure that the income of the farmers increase gradually with the implementation of the state government policies.