Naveen’s sops fall flat, yet 2 more farmers commit suicide

BHUBANESWAR: It seems the announcement of the slew of measures by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to arrest the drought situation has not impacted on the farmer community as two more peasant deaths were reported one each from Dhenkanal and Sundergarh districts on Friday.

The farmers suicide report came in barely 24 hours after BJD’s ‘Chasi Samabesh’ at Sohela, where the ruling party members bragged off having addressed the plights of farmers and taken steps to contain the suicide spree.

Diganta Das of Raitala village under Gondia block in Dhenkanal, who consumed poison on Thursday night, died at the district headquarters hospital while undergoing treatment.

Family sources said Diganta had grown paddy on five acres of land for which he had borrowed loans of Rs 5 lakh from the local moneylenders and banks.

In a similar development, another peasant identified as Satana Ekka of Koparanda village under Bisra Block in Sundergarh district took the extreme step by hanging himself from a tree at his farm land.