217 farmers commit suicide in Karnataka in 2006

Bangalore, Feb 2: Karnataka Agriculture Minister Bandeppa Kashempur today informed the Legislative Assembly that 217 farmers had committed suicide in the state in 2006.

Responding to a query from Congress member Basavaraja Raya Reddy, during question hour, he said the Government was considering a proposal to increase the compensation amount from Rs one lakh to Rs two lakhs to the families of farmers who had committed suicide due to loan burden.

Mr Kashempur said the State Government had requested the Centre to include 13 more districts in addition to the present six where relief was being provided directly from the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. The Centre had released Rs 50 lakh to provide compensation in six districts, which had reported high incidence of farmers' suicide, he added.

To a question from Gurupadappa Nagamarapalli (Congress), the Minister said Rs 82.75 crore was given to 2.52 lakh farmers as compensation under the crop insurance scheme in the last one year.

The Congress members took exception to the Government not spending money sent by the Centre under the National Horticulture Mission. When Horticulture Minister Shashikant Akkappa Naik informed Mr Kumar Bangarappa (Congress) that the Government had spent only Rs 12 crore as against Rs 73 crore sent by the Centre, the members led by senior Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge took the Government to task. The State's share was Rs 133 crore and the Government had spent only Rs 12 crore, which reflected the sorry state of affairs, Mr Kharge ridiculed.

Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister M P Prakash came to his colleague's rescue and apologised for the inaction. A meeting would be convened soon to discuss steps to ensure optimum utilisation of Central grants, he added.

UNI