Ganjam officials visit to the farmer suicide village

Berhampur: Ganjam officials include local Tehsildar and District Deputy Director of Agriculture visited the place and started enquiry into the matter of farmer suicide at Tikarapada village under Balipada Panchayat of Kukudakhandi block on Friday.

Crop loss due to drought situation became unbearable for the farmers of Ganjam which took the life of a farmer Dibakar Sethi (45) who committed suicide by consuming pesticide on Thursday as he failed to clear the debt. The suicide was taken place on the day of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s visit to Ganjam. He belongs to Revenue Minister Surya Narayana Patro’s constituency breathed his last in MKCG Medical College when the treatment was going on.   

Dibakar had taken loan Rs 1 lakh at the time of his daughter’s marriage. He had faced huge crop loss during last year’s cyclonic rain. He has not yet received the crop loss compensation. While this year the drought situation harassed him. He lost his mental balance and consumed pesticide.

Revenue Minister Surya Narayana Patro and Sanakhemundi MLA Ramesh Jena have given compensation amount of five and ten thousand rupees to the families of the deceased respectively.

It may be noted that during last Khariff crop, farmer suicide was taken place after witnessing crop loss due to untimely cyclonic rain at the time of harvesting of the crop.  

  

NREGA Gramsathi and contractor commit suicide in Ganjam

 
….he claimed in his suicidal note that the block is responsible for his death

….delay in passing the NREGA bill harassed him

Berhampur: An NREGA Gramsathi and contractor committed suicide alleging the late in passing his bill by the block on Friday. He was identified as Shivram Nayak of Kaithapalli village of Padmapur Panchayat under Rangeilunda block limits.

He had written a suicidal note before his suicide which was recovered from the spot. In his letter he alleged that the block is responsible for his death. He got frustrated due to delay in passing the NREGA bill of his work. He also mentioned in his letter that his family is not responsible for his death. Shivram hanged himself with the help of a rope. 

DM writes Govt to declare Ganjam district drought-hit

Berhamppur: District Magistrate of Ganjam Dr Krishan Kumar said to write to the Government to declare Ganjam district drought-hit after the demand from all quarters of the district.

To discuss on the drought situation in the district, a meeting was organized in DRDA hall at Chatrapur. During the discussion it was revealed that 1740 revenue villages out of 3216 revenue villages of t5he total 22 blocks of the district were witnessed completely crop loss due to scanty rainfall. Till Monday, 86,825 hectares of paddy field affected by drought out of 2 lakh 10 thousand 450 hectares of paddy field. Due to this reason, the members in the meeting demanded to declare Ganjam district drought-hit.

When we contacted to the Ganjam DM on Thursday, he said that his administration has already received a letter from the State Government to repair the Lift Irrigation (LI) points, crop bond for the farmers and other plans to help the farmers of the district. “15 blocks were declared drought-hit and other seven are in the process. After the estimation of crop loss, the final decision will be taken by the Government”, he added.  

There is acute problem of water in the district. The canals in the district can supply water possibly for seven days only. 2132 pump sets were provided to the farmers against the proposed 5000. Seeds, fertilizer and other facilities will be provided to the Rabi crop due to crop loss in Khariff session. The members who were present in the meeting have given stress on Check Dam construction to save the standing crop. Government has not yet sanctioned money for the repairing of 617 defunct irrigation points which needs 23 crore 10 lakh rupees for its repairing. But Collector told that district administration will get 15 crore shortly for the repairing of the Irrigation points to save the Rabi Crop.

At last he assured to write a suggestion letter to the Government to declare the district drought affected as all the blocks of the districts were severely faced drought situation.

Apart from District Magistrate, DRDA Director M Muthukumar, ZP Chairman Kamraju Sethi, Deputy Director of Agriculture of the District Aparty Sethi, MLAs of different constituencies of the district and district officials were present in the meeting.   

         

CM’s visit, hope for farmers

Berhampur: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s one day Ganjam visit on Thursday have shown a ray of hope to the demand of farmers and farmer bodies of the district. CM visited some drought-hit areas in his visit by road for Aska.

He reached at Aska and started his scheduled work by garlanding the statue of Biju Patnaik at Aska Biju Patnaik Chhak. He laid foundation stone for Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor. Then he addressed the gathering following the inauguration of Aska New Bus Stand. He also visited Sheragada and then his constituency Hinjilicut to inaugurate different projects by the government.

When the newsmen asked about his opinion about the drought situation in Ganjam, he admitted that the problem is very acute. But he did not say about the declaration of drought-hit in the district. And he added that he is looking into the matter.

“We have visited some places of the district today and I have looked at some areas where the drought has taken place. The measures for the drought victim- the farmers, have already been taken. I’m looking into the matter”, said CM at Aska.

The farmers are in distress as they faced drought this year and lost the Khariff crop due to scarcity of water. Most of the political parties and farmer bodies have demanded the government to declare Ganjam district drought-hit. The farmers of Ganjam have given memorandum to the Governor to declare the district drought-hit and help the farmers. While the visit of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik added strength to their hope.    

KK college students locked the main gate to fulfill their demand

Berhampur: The students of Khallikote Autonomous College in the city demanded to speed up college development works putting lock in the main gate of the college on Tuesday here.

The students locked the gate and agitated against the college administration to fulfill their demands as it has been a longstanding demand by them for quality education and development of one of the oldest college of the state.

In their twelve chartered demand, they highlighted the demand of transparency in college administration to provide the books for various competitive exams, to active the placement cell, to remove hoardings placed around the college campus to bring beautiful outlook of the century old precious college and so on.

The students have given deadline of only seven days to fulfill their demand. The strike was led by Students’ Union President Santosh Kumar Sahu, Secretary Jagannath Panda, Vice-president Titu Behera and Assistant Secretary Ajeet Kumar Patro. They also demanded appointment of new advisors in Students’ Union to maintain transparency and fix accountability and take care of union room and to provide details about the expenditures and assets of the said association.       

Political parties demand Ganjam district drought-hit

Berhampur: Various political parties of Ganjam district have demanded the government to declare Ganjam district drought-hit following the scanty rainfall and scarcity of adequate water in the paddy field.

On Tuesday at Chatrapur Ganjam District Congress Committee (GDCC) demanded the government to declare Ganjam district drought-hit and handed over the memorandum to the District Magistrate consisting of an eleven chartered demand to help the farmers who lost the standing crop due to drought in the district.

The party demanded that to exempt agriculture loan from the farmers, compensation to the farmers, to provide loan from nationalized banks, to supply of fertilizer to the farmers and so on.

On Tuesday here Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI (M) demanded the government to declare Ganjam district drought-hit and to supply relief to the farmers immediately. The CPI (M) leaders demanded state government immediately give employment to agricultural labourers of the district at daily wage of Rs 200. The party also demanded total waiver of agricultural loans for the current year.

They also demanded that villages to be taken as units instead of taking blocks and Panchayats as units during assessment for insurance claims for crop loss by which the farmers could get benefit and prepare the compensation keeping eye on the share croppers.

Ganjam Unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been demanding the government to declare Ganjam district drought-hit and bring a long term solution to the irrigation problem in the district.

“The irrigation and water resource department is in the hand of Chief Minister, who belongs to Ganjam failed to tackle the water scarcity problem in the district which led to drought not only in one block but also in the entire blocks of the district. After the drought LI point and tube well preparing is directed by the government which we can understand that it was the foresighted less of the government”, said the President of BJP Krushak Morcha Rama Kumar Patra to The Pioneer.

On October 22 at Chatrapur in front of Sub-collector’s office, Communist Party of India (CPI) sat on a dharna led by its leader Narayana Reddy to demand the government to declare Ganjam district drought-hit.     

Apart from that some farmer bodies like Rushikulya Rayat Mahasangha, Akhila Bharat Kissan Mazdoor Sabha, Lok Sangram Manch and Utkal Rajya Krushak Sabha have demanded for the accurate estimation of crop loss due to drought in the district. On Tuesday some farmers have handed over a memorandum to the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (RDC) to help them as they faced heavy loss due to drought situation in the district.

Assessment of crop damage begins in Ganjam

Berhampur: Due to scanty rainfall and acute problem of water for the paddy field, 66 thousand 610 hectare of paddy field from 22 blocks have been damaged out of 2 lakh 10 thousand 450 hectares in Ganjam till October 20. The assessment of affected crop during the current year is going on by the department of Statistics in the district.

This year, 3 lakh 97 thousand 505 hectares of land had rice crop along with other crops out of 4 lakh 11 thousand 581 hectares of agricultural land. After the 20-30 percent loss in the month of August this year, the fresh assessment of crop loss of October is increasing day by day.

According to the data by Deputy Director of Agriculture of the district, the assessment of crop loss in Bellaguntha block is 5,655 hectare, Jagannathprasad 5,150, Rangeilunda 4,820, Buguda 4,540, Khallikote 4,250, Patrapur 3,060, Kukudakhandi 2,920, Sanakhemundi 3,600, Digapahandi 3,065, Bhanjanagar 1,660, Sorada 3065, Dharakot 1,900, Sheragada 2,600, Aska 2,010, Polasara 2,200, KS Nagar 2,870, Chatrapur 1,530, Ganjam 1,190, Hinjili 1,600, Purusottampur 2,010, Beguniapada 2,550.

The district has received 13 mm rainfall against 120 mm till October 20. The district witnessed 90 percent less rainfall which led the drought like situation in the district this year.

The previous crop loss due to heavy rainfall during the time of harvesting last year and drought like situation of the current year harassed the farming community. The farmers of different blocks started migrating to other states in the search of job as the continuous damage of crops left them in lurch. Different organizations are demanding for the declaration of drought in the district. Some farmer bodies of the district claimed that the assessment by the District Agriculture Department is to laughing at the farmers. The assessment is not exact and the loss is heavier than the assessment by the department.

“The assessment of crop loss due to less rainfall in the district is going on. The loss is increasing day by day. Till October 20, the loss was estimated as 66, 610 hectares. The statistics department will give its report again after the completion of the crop loss assessment”, said Deputy Director of Agriculture of the district Aparty Sethi to The Pioneer.