Farmer commits suicide in Uttarakhand, admin to look into matter

The farmer was under stress as his crops had failed due to bad weather.

dehradun Updated: May 10, 2018 22:24 IST

The farmer had committed suicide by consuming poison. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representative image )

A farmer reportedly committed suicide in Nainital district on Tuesday. Locals said that the farmer killed himself after crop failure as he was in financial distress. The district administration, however, said that they would be examining the matter and cannot issue a statement without verifying facts.

According to reports, Harish Belwal (32), a resident of Dudli Babiyad village in Dhari block committed suicide by consuming poison at his home. He was referred to the Sushila Tiwari Hospital in Haldwani where he breathed his last.

The village head, Chandra Ballabh Sharma, said that the deceased was under stress as his crops had failed due to bad weather.

A hailstorm had struck the state last month leading to losses in US Nagar and Nainital districts, where harvested wheat that had been kept in the fields had germinated. The farmers have been demanding that the government buy the germinated wheat so that they do not suffer losses.

Former chief minister Harish Rawat has also been making the same demand.

Nainital district magistrate Vinod Kumar Suman said that he was not aware of the matter and would ask officials to give a report on the farmer’s death. “We will assess whether he was under duress from crop-related problems,” said Suman.

In 2017, four farmers had committed suicide in Uttarakhand due to debts leading to a political blame game. Ram Avtar, a farmer from Khatima, committed suicide in June 2017. In June, Surendra a farmer from Berinag in Pithoragarh district committed suicide as he was under pressure to repay agricultural loans.

In July last year, Rajkumar of Chamba block of Tehri committed suicide over farm-loan related issues and Balvinder Singh of Bajpur had committed suicide in July 2017 due to alleged debts.

In April this year, the Uttarakhand High Court had directed the state government to constitute a State Farmers Commission within three months and formulate a scheme to provide compensation or pension to the families of farmers who have committed suicide.