Farmers suicides: Congress counsels Fadnavis to undergo "counselling"

Mumbai, Dec 30: Opposition Congress on Dec 29 advised Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to undergo "counselling" for "failing" to curb farmer suicides in the state, where it claimed over 3,000 agriculturists ended their lives this year alone.

Addressing the media at Gandhi Bhavan here, party spokesperson Sachin Sawant said there has been no improvement in the condition of farmers under the BJP-led Government, which took office in October-end last year, especially in Marathwada region, which accounts for bulk of the suicides.

"More than 3,000 farmers have committed suicide across the state since January this year. Of these 1,109 farmers were from Marathwada," Sawant said.

This month alone, 112 farmers have ended their lives till now in the parched and underdeveloped region, where hundreds of villages are in the grip of drought, he claimed.

According to Sawant, the highest number of farmers (299) committed suicide in Beed district followed by 187 in Nanded and 160 in Osmanabad, all in Marathwada.

Beed is the home district of a high-profile Minister (Pankaja Munde of BJP) and it is shameful it tops in farmer suicides, the Congress leader said. Sawant took a jibe at the Fadnavis Government's initiative to organise counselling sessions for distressed farmers by health workers so as to prevent them from taking the extreme step.

Farmers do not need counselling. Instead, it is time for Fadnavis and other Ministers to attend "counselling" sessions as his Government has "failed" to curb suicide by cultivators, he maintained.

Sawant also advised Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar to concentrate on finding out the whereabouts of the tigress of the four cubs who recently died due to starvation in the forests of Pathri in Chandrapur district.

PTI