Kolkata: The condition of farmers in West Bengal is continuously deteriorating. Farmers are committing suicide day by day due to the coming storms and not getting the right price for the crop. Three more farmers have committed suicide in Bengal’s Rice Bowl of Bardhaman district. The families of the deceased farmers claimed to have committed suicide after potato and paddy crops were destroyed due to unseasonal rains triggered by Cyclone Jawad, while the district administration is probing the incidents.
On Saturday, two farmers were found hanging in their homes in Debipur and Banteer villages of Raina block. Another farmer was found hanging in his house on Friday in Biruha village of Kalna II block. The bodies have been sent to Bardhaman Medical College and Hospital for post-mortem, a police official said.
District Magistrate Priyanka Singla said that the incident is being investigated. However, Raina 1st Block BDO Soumen Banik said that after preliminary investigation it has been found that the suicide was not due to damage to the crop, and the police and agriculture department have been asked to investigate the incidents further.
Agriculture advisor to the state government Pradeep Majumdar said the farmers’ suicides could not have happened due to crop failure as they had got financial help under the ‘Krishak Bandhu’ scheme a week ago. Raina MLA Shampa Dhara also claimed that the deaths were not due to crop failure.
It is to be known that due to the damage caused by Cyclone Jawad, reports of farmer suicides are continuously coming out from many districts of Bengal. On December 7, 2021, a farmer committed suicide in East Medinipur due to crop failure. The family had claimed to have committed suicide as the government did not get any help due to crop damage.