Hapless suicide-hit farmer families get tip: Spend less

Parvesh Sharma

Tribune News Service

Sangrur, February 18

Unable to pay a debt of Rs 8 lakh, her husband committed suicide in December 2015. Living hand to mouth, the family has not received any help. A bitter Paramjit Kaur of Kahangarh village believes Punjab’s farm loan waiver scheme is a farce.

Like her, several other families from Sangrur, Mansa and Bathinda districts arrived in the town today for an interaction with MPs, hopeful of finding a way out of a plethora of problems.

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Invited by  “Farmer and Labourer Suicides Victim Families Committee Punjab”, they were in for a disappointment. The committee had invited all Punjab MPs but only three bothered to come, and they too were of little help. As they began a nasty blame game, the crowd became fidgety. Lecturing on the need to curb wasteful expenditure, the MPs made a hasty exit, leaving the families bewildered.

Jaspreet Singh, a panel member, said they had invited the MPs so they could directly talk with the affected families and speak up for them in Parliament. 

While AAP’s Dr Dharamvira Gandhi and Bhagwant Mann and SAD’s Prem Singh Chandumajra failed to come up with any concrete suggestions, Dhuri Congress MLA Dalvir Goldy promised to provide free education to “the children of each of the families who have lost their bread earner”. But not many seemed impressed.

“My husband Jagga Singh, who worked as a farm labourer, committed suicide in January 2017. He had taken a loan of Rs 7 lakh. The debt is mounting, but we have no means to repay. Being asthmatic, I cannot work. We are living off our relatives,” said a sobbing Sarbjeet Kaur. 

She had come from Kamomajra village. Needless to say, she returned home dejected.