Standing in queue to buy manure, Lalitpur farmer dies of heart attack

Jhansi: A 52-year-old farmer, who was running from one shop to another to procure manure for the past three days, died of a heart attack in a queue in front of a shop in Lalitpur on Friday. The district administration has recommended a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the family of the deceased.
Reports said the deceased, Bhogi Pal of Nayagaon village in Birdha block of the district, had come to the district headquarters on Friday to buy manure. He went to a shop in Jugpura area, where suddenly his health condition deteriorated and he collapsed in the queue. Bhogi was taken to the district hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Senior administrative officers, including DM Lalitpur, Unnavi Dinesh Kumar rushed to the hospital to handle the situation.
As per the deceased farmer’s son Kripal Pal, his father had two acres of land for which he was trying to get manure for the past three days. He had to repeatedly stand in queues at several shops due to short supply.
Talking to TOI, Lalitpur DM said, “The body of the deceased farmer has been handed over to his family members after postmortem. The postmortem report says he died of a heart attack. Arrangements for his funeral have been made. I have recommended a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for the family members of the deceased under the state welfare scheme.”
He further informed TOI that due to the sudden rainfall last week, the sowing of seeds has been preponed.
“This has suddenly escalated the demand of DAP and urea many-fold. Last October, the demand of manure was 20,000 MT which has just doubled this year as farmers are in a rush to procure it. This has suddenly created an imbalance in demand and supply, which will be sorted out soon.”
Samajwadi Party (SP) national president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has criticised the government regarding the incident on social media, saying that “the shortage of manure in BJP government has taken a very ugly turn. In independent India, farmers have never faced so much trouble and humiliation before.”
Farmer bodies have been agitating in various parts of Bundelkhand for the past few days against the short supply of manure, alleging that shopkeepers were selling DAP and urea ion premium.
Farmer leader Shiv Narayan Singh Parihar said, “The official rate of urea and DAP per bag is Rs 1,200 but farmers are paying somewhere between 1,300-1,500 per bag because of short supply.”
Commissioner Jhansi division Ajay Shankar Pandey has ordered strict vigilance in all the three districts of the division, including Jhansi, Jalaun and Lalitpur. He has called for sealing of district borders in order to stop inter-district selling of manure.
The commissioner has also asked the officers to check each and every shop for illegal activity.
The commissioner informed TOI, “There is enough stock of urea and DAP in the division. Farmers should not get restless as the requirement of all will be fulfilled in the coming days.”
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On Friday, the administration raided 32 shops in Lalitpur and took samples from four and issued show cause notices to two persons. Moreover, FIRs were filed against three shop-owners.
Similarly in Jhansi, 35 shops were inspected while samples were collected from 11 shops and notices were issued to two shops. In Jalaun, 40 shops were raided in which samples were collected from 10 shops while notices were issued to four shops.