Chandigarh: The trend of farmer suicides in Punjab is still unabated. In shocking revelation, 1,403 farmers committed suicide in the past five years due to rising debt. Likewise, 403 farm laborers committed suicide in the same span in Punjab, a centre government report said.
The highest number of deaths have occurred in Mansa district with 314 farmers death due to debt. Bathinda district is at number two, where 269 farmers died by suicide.
Congress state president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring lashed out at the AAP government, saying, “14 farmers have committed suicide in past 25 days, are you punishing annadata for voting for the Aam Aadmi Party? The Bharatiya Kisan Union Ugrahan, Punjab’s largest agricultural union, had also claimed that around 14 farmers committed suicide in a month. Out of which 11 farmers were from Malwa region.
After Punjab, 23 farmers have died by death in five years in Haryana. In Rajasthan, seven farmers committed suicide in the last five years, while in Maharashtra, 12,552 farmers committed suicide.
Through various research conducted by agricultural universities, it has been found that heavy debt was a major reason behind farmer suicides in Punjab. Farmers were getting caught in the debt trap.