Shameerpet tenant farmer commits suicide by consuming pesticide

HYDERABAD: On a day the State government claimed that there have been no farmer suicides in Telangana since mid-2018, a tenant farmer from Shameerpet ended his life on Thursday. Forty-year-old M Narayana, police say, took the decision due to increasing indebtedness and crop failures.According to police, he ended his life by consuming a pesticide in his field.

A week ago, another tenant farmer, had committed suicide at Yacharam, in the neighbouring Rangareddy district. He used to cultivate cotton in a three-acre land and his recent harvest had failed.According to police, Narayana was a resident of Aliabad village which falls under the jurisdiction of Shameerpet police station, Cyberabad. He was first a daily labourer, but had recently taken lands on lease to cultivate different crops. His wife Laxmi would work as a daily wage labourer. Two years ago, Narayana leased two acres of farmland on the outskirts of the village and tried to cultivate maize.

According to his friends, his last year’s harvest was minimal due to which he could not clear the debts he had borrowed for buying seeds and fertilisers. Later, he borrowed huge amounts of money from private lenders in his village to invest on another crop.

However, bad weather and lack of irrigation water, had ruined the harvest once again. His wife Laxmi told police that Narayana appeared agitated for the past few days. On Thursday, he left home saying he was going to tend the fields. A couple of hours later, other farmers found him lying unconscious in his field. Police recovered an empty pesticide can near his body. “Based on the autopsy report and evidence, the investigation will proceed,” said Naveen Reddy, SI, Shameerpet police station.