Another farmer commits suicide in Odisha’s Dhenkanal

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Apr 7:

Yet another farmer in Odisha’s Dhenkanal district succumbed to his alleged suicide attempt today.

The deceased farmer identified as Arun Baral from Nuagaon village under Dhenkanal Sadar police station limits had allegedly consumed poison on March 29 in an attempt to commit suicide after suffering severe crop loss.

Arun had also borrowed heavily and was under severe stress to repay his loans.

He was first admitted to the district headquarters hospital here and was later shifted to a private hospital in Cuttack where he breathed his last today.

“He had taken hand loans of around Rs 1 lakh for farming. He had also borrowed Rs 15,000 from the local Primary Cooperative Society. His crops had failed and his creditors were bothering him for repayment. As a consequence of this, he was under mental stress. He had a bullock which was worth Rs 25,000. He had to distress sell the animal for Rs 15,000 to repay his loans. He too has a daughter of marriageable age to marry off. After losing mental balance on account of these factors he had consumed the pesticide he had brought for treating his brinjal crop which had suffered pest attack. We immediately rushed him to the Dhenkanal District Headquarters Hospital. He was referred to SCB Medical College & Hospital Cuttack. Since there was no seat available in the ICU, we got him admitted to a private nursing home at Chhatrabazaar where he succumbed today,” said Bipin Kumar Baral, a relative of the deceased farmer.