Poultry farmer commits suicide in Maharashtra

Pune, May 23 (UNI) Unable to bear the mounting losses due to reports of bird flu and lack of relief from the state government and the Centre, yet another poultry farmer has committed suicide, National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) spokesperson Amin Irani today said.

The farmer Arun Shankar Bendre of Ambale village in Shirur taluka of Pune district hanged himself in his poultry shed on Friday last.

This is the third case of suicide by a poultry farmer in Maharashtra. A total of eight poultry farmers from different parts of the country have committed suicide so far, after bird flu was reported in February this year. Three weeks ago, a poultry farmer had committed suicide, in Hyderabad, Mr Irani informed.

He said the Maharashtra government had announced various relief measures to poultry farmers--including cash compensation as early as the last week of March. About a month ago, the Central government announced that 5.3 lakh tonnes of maize and broken rice would be allotted to poultry farmers at a low rate. However, till date, neither the compensation nor the grain has reached the farmers at ground level.

So far, the poultry industry has suffered a loss of not less than Rs 9,000 crore. Thousands of farmers are reeling under the burden of debt and are unable to revive their only means of livelihood.

NECC has appealed to the both the state as well as central government to take effective steps to reach relief to the farmers immediately, as any further delay might drive more and more farmers to commit suicide.

UNI DWN KU MSJ HT1930