A share-cropper who had attempted suicide due to alleged crop loss and debt burden in Ganjam, home district of Odisha Chief Minister, died in MKCG medical college and hospital in Berhampur on Wednesday night.
The death coincided with the farmers’ rally of ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) at Sohela in western Odisha on Thursday. The deceased was Lochan Bhuyan (55) of Singipur village under Purushottampur police station limits in Ganjam district. According to his nephew Purnachandra Bhuyan, the dead farmer was a share cropper, who had taken up cultivation on around four acres of land of other land-owners.
As a share cropper he was not eligible for agricultural loan from banks or cooperative bodies. So, Lochan had taken loan worth around 30,000 rupees from private money lenders at hefty interest. Unable to repay after crop loss he consumed insecticide on November 12.