Farmer ends life after exhausting savings for daughter’s wedding...

Nagpur: Maroti Atram’s death may be the first farmer’s suicide for which the lockdown would be blamed. As the news spread, charity poured in, following a call on social media, and soon over a lakh of rupees was collected. The gifts in kind included a digital television among other items. The marriage was solemnized on June 3 as Atram’s last rites were performed a day before.
Atram, a tribal in his 50s, tilled his four-acre land at Sakhra village near Pandharkavda town of Yavatmal district. On May 27, two days before his daughter’s marriage, Atram allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison.
Atram was reported to have run out of the Rs10,000 he had saved for his daughter Payal’s marriage in meeting the expenses during the lockdown. With no other means of income, he had utilized the savings, said his kin.
Farm activist Kishore Tiwari, who is also the chairman of Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavalamban Mission (VNSSM), a state government task force on farm crisis, visited the deceased’s kin.
“Atram’s relatives told me that the marriage was first fixed in March, but could not happen due to the lockdown. It was further extended to May 29. He had saved Rs10,000 for the marriage, but the amount had to be spent for subsistence during the lockdown,” said Tiwari.
As the fresh date neared, the money was over. Atram was trying desperately to raise a fresh amount but could not. “All the while he kept telling his family members that money was arranged to keep them assured. With no hope in the end, he walked out of his home on the night of May 26 and consumed poison. He did not discuss the problem with his kin,” said Tiwari, citing Atram’s relatives, including his brother.
Instead of directly helping the family, Tiwari took up the matter with Khushroo Poacha so that people in general are sensitized.
A central railway employee and a social worker from Nagpur, Poacha recently got a call from chief minister Uddhav Thackrey to appreciate his efforts during the lockdown.
“Poacha’s call on social media led to a collection of Rs1.07 lakh. Groceries and other household items were also provided by the donors. One of them gifted a digital TV,” said Tiwari.
“The amount went into the daughter’s bank account. After spending for the marriage, Rs43000 odd have been saved. We plan to take the corpus to one lakh again and give it to the couple,” he said.
As TOI called up Payal, she did not have much to share. “My father kept things to himself,” was all she said.
Her husband Akash Kulsange has an eight acre farm which is tilled in rotation by his uncle and aunt’s families. Last year, the farm was with his aunt’s family, he said.