Hisar farmer commits suicide

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, April 16

Under debt, a farmer reportedly committed suicide in Hisar’s Garhi village today.

The victim has been identified as Raje Ram (55). He had suffered successive crop loss, as a result of which debt mounted. He had loan from a cooperative bank and private financers.

His family said Ram had gone to the fields on Friday night. A villager spotted his body hanging from a tree on Saturday morning and informed the family.

Ram’s brother, Raghuvir Singh, said Ram owned 2 acres and took 8 acres on lease for Rs 22,000 per acre. “In the kharif season, whiteflies damaged his cotton crop. He again took loan for this season. As the wheat yield was below average, he was distressed for the past few days,” he said.

Ram owed about Rs 5 lakh. “He had taken a loan of Rs 1.13 from a bank and Rs 43000 from a cooperative society. He also owed Rs 3 lakh to a private financer and some amount to a shopkeeper,” Singh said, adding Ram was the only earning hand in the family.

He is survived by his wife and four children, one of them married.

“With each crop season, farmers hope for a good yield so that they can pay off the debts. But low return for the past couple of years have dashed their hopes,” said Pradeep Singh, a Kisan Sabha leader.