KHARGONE: A 37-year-old farmer hanged himself in MP’s Khargone district late Friday night, a day after a farmer killed himself in neighbouring Dewas. Around a third of MP has received below-average rainfall this season.
The Khargone farmer’s family said he killed himself under mounting debt and crop failure, but the district administration refuted this, claiming that the crops he had sown on his 16-acre land were ‘normal’. The body of Jitendra Patidar was found hanging from a tree near his field on Friday night.
Last night, he told me that he was going to kill himself and switched off his mobile,” Jitendra’s uncle Bhagwan Patidar told mediapersons.
Jitendra was upset by the “failure of crops” as he had loans of Rs 10-12 lakh from government and private institutions. “Lack of proper rainfall is preventing farmers from repaying loans,” Patidar said, adding that Jitendra’s wife, mother and grandmother have also taken loans of about Rs 6 lakh.
Local MLA Ravi Joshi said he had demanded that the state government declare Khargone a drought-hit district a month ago. “Jitendra killed himself due to debt and crop failure,” he said. However, a team of agriculture, horticulture and revenue officials visited Jitendra’s house and fields on Saturday. Khargone SDM Satyendra Singh said, “Jitendra has 16 acres, of which he had sown cotton on 10 acres and chilli, maize and groundnut on the rest. The joint team has described the condition of the crops as normal. The cotton crop is in good condition while the remaining crops are comparatively weak due to less rainfall.”
The SDM said Jitendra had taken a loan of Rs 90,671 from a cooperative society and owned a two-storey house. “Prima facie, this case does not appear to be related to crop failure or loan crisis. Police are trying to find out the exact reason for the suicide,” he added. SDM Singh said Jitendra was earlier booked for gambling in 2016 and 2021.
Former CM Kamal Nath criticised the government, tweeting: “Exploitation of farmers and suicides have begun soon after the Shivraj government came to power. Now, farmer Jitendra killed himself in Khargone. Farmers are most hurt, frustrated by loans under the rule of Shivraj ji, who calls himself a farmer’s son.” BJP spokesperson Umesh Sharma said, “It is unfortunate for any farmer to kill himself, but Kamal Nath Ji is playing politics..”
