Farmers Suicides: HC notice to Punjab, Haryana

Chandigarh, Oct 11 (UNI) Taking cognisance of the media reports pertaining to the suicides committed by farmers and other poor sections caught in debt trap, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notices to both Punjaba and haryana governments to apprise it about the steps being taken to deal with such a situation and the relief for such families.

The notices, issued by the division bench of the acting Chief Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar and Justice Surinder Singh Saron, in the wake of the communication submitted by Justice Pritam Pal seeking directions to treat the matter as a public interest litigation(PIL) petition. They are returnable by November 15.

Justice Pal pointed out latest news report from Barnala in Sangrur district, which spoke of four members of a farmer's family belonging to village Khyali committing suicide by consuming poison due to extreme poverty, financial hardship and the poor productivity of the land they owned.

Another example cited in Justice Pritam Pal's note referred to a young debt-ridden farmer in his later twenties who hanged himself to death in village Bhaini Bagha in district Mansa due to his failure to cope with the hardship created by his unpaid loans.

The deceased having 15 acres of land opted to mortgage three acres as he owed Rs 12 lakh to the State Bank of India and the land mortgage bank and was unable to repay the same.

Justice Pritam Pal's communication also mentioned that the plight of the poor farmers in Haryana was no different.

While the banks and the state financial institutions had floated schemes like one-time settlement (OTS) and the non-performing assets schemes, to favour the rich industrialists, there was no such scheme for the poor farmers.

Haryana former minister Shamsher Singh Surjewala MLA who heads the All India Congress Committee (AICC) wing exclusively devoted to the farmers, had recently raised this issue and had quoted facts and figures in support of his contention that a large number of farmers in Haryana and adjoining Punjab were committing suicide due to their inability to repay bank and other loans.

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