People's Tribunal listens to vows of Farmers suicide cases

Sangrur, Apr 2 (UNI) The Indian People's Tribunal on farmers suicides today held a sitting at Lehragaga to get the first hand information about the cases of suicides committed by the heavily indebted farmers in the Malwa belt of Punjab.

About 50 such aggrieved families, who never got any compensation from the Punjab government for the suicides committed by their only bread-earning family members, presented their cases before the Indian People's Tribunal at Lehragaga, the Assembly Constituency of Deputy Chief Minister Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

According to the Movement Against State Repression (MASR), a human rights body, as many as 1,360 farmers had committed suicides in Andana and Lehra Blocks of Moonak sub-division alone in the district from 1988 to July 2005.

In one such case that was heard before the Tribunal today, one farmer Gurjat Singh had committed suicide on August five in 2001 at the age of 34. The reason for the act was not only a burden of Rs three lakh loan which he owed to the Punjab National Bank but also that he was not getting married due to poverty, the late Gurjat Singh's brother Tarsem Singh submitted before the Tribunal.

Tarsem Singh, who also owed Rs 45,000 to 'arhtiya' (private money lender), further said that he himself was also facing problem in getting married at the age of 31 due to poverty.

In another case, a poor farmer Jugraj Singh of a village near Mansa had committed suicide in October 2002 as he did not have enough money to get his daughter married. Presenting the case before the Tribunal, the late Jugraj Singh's wife Gurmail Kaur said the condition of her family was deteriorating day by day after her husband, the only earning member in the family, killed himself by consuming pesticides.

Another aggrieved woman, Ranjit Kaur of Gurne Kala village in Mansa district, said that her husband Chamkaur Singh committed suicide after he lost his job as a labourer in a sugar mill after the mill closed down in 2001. Earlier, Chamkaur Singh used to do farming on his land that was forcibly acquired by the government in 1988.

''What else the man could do other than committing suicide if he is thrown out of his land and then he loses job with no source of income to feed his family,'' Ranjit Kaur said.

In another tale of vows, Jasvir Kaur said she also wanted to commit suicide after her heavily indebted husband finished himself but she could not do so for the sake of her minor children. She said her husband Binder Singh had consumed pesticides on January one 2003 after he was not able to pay back Rs 80,000 which he took from his relatives. Jasvir Kaur said she was now doing labour job to feed her children.

The jury members of the Indian People's Tribunal were told that all these 50 families were running pillar to post to get compensation but the officials concerned were not listening to them.

UNI XC PS SHB BS1906