Durg:
A 34-year-old farmer, who was apparently distressed over damage caused to his crops due to some unknown disease, allegedly committed suicide in Chhattisgarh’s Durg district, police said on Monday.
State Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu has asked officials concerned to ascertain the kind of new disease affecting crops and chalk out a solution to deal with it.
Durgesh Kumar Nishad, a resident of Matarodih village under Utai police station limits, was found hanging from a tree on Sunday at an agriculture field where he had sown paddy, said Monika Pandey, station house officer of Utai police station.
As per preliminary information, he had taken four acre of farm land on lease from another villager and cultivated paddy on it. However, his crop was completely destroyed recently, she said.
On Saturday evening, he went to the field and did not return. Some locals found him hanging on Sunday morning and alerted the police, the official said.
A suicide note was found at the spot in which the deceased purportedly stated he was upset over the crop loss and that compelled him to take the extreme step, the official said, adding an investigation into the case is underway.
State Home Minister Tamradhwaj Sahu visited the deceased’s house on Monday and gave his family members a cheque of Rs 4 lakh on behalf of the state government.
“Today, I visited the house of young farmer Durgesh Nishad in Matarodih (Machandur) village, who took the extreme step after being disturbed over crop loss due to the disease.
“I have expressed my condolence to his family and given them an assistance of Rs 4 lakh on behalf of the state government,” Sahu tweeted in Hindi.
“I have directed the officials concerned of the district to ascertain the kind of new disease targeting crops and chalk out a solution to deal with it,” the minister said in another tweet.
