Belagavi: In the last five days 12 farmers have ended their lives in Belagavi due to harassment by banks and co-operative societies to repay the loans.
According to reports, in most of the cases, failure to pay the loans is the sole reason for these farmers to take the extreme step of committing suicide.
Basappa Ganiger a farmer from Kadroli, near Kittur, met local tahsildar on Monday stating that the bank authorities are threatening him to repay the loan. He said he is unable to sell his house as the local gram panchayat is unwilling to provide the required documents. The farmer said that if he is not given the house records, the tahsildar will be responsible for his death. The plight of farmer Ganiger shows how farmers are under huge pressure to repay loans.
In another case at Mundgod near Karwar, a farmer Phakirappa Shirigeri (40) set himself on fire on Sunday under pressure to repay Rs 2.5 lakh loan which he availed to take up agriculture in his 2 acre plot. In a critical state, he has been admitted at KIMS hospital, Hubli and a case has been registered against him by the police.
“The government can save farmers if it takes a quick decision to waiver their loans in all banks and cooperative societies. Due to various reasons including the continued dry spell in North-Karnataka, farmers are unable to harvest crops at the expected level and fail to repay their loans on time”, said Rajendra Pawar, a farmers leader to sources.
Farmers growing sugarcane are in a crisis for the last one year with factories failing to pay their dues. Since 2013, most of the 63 factories in the state owe thousands of crores to cane growers in the state forcing many of them to end their lives.
