Three farmers commit suicide in Belagavi

Belagavi: Unable to repay their loans, three more farmers committed suicide in Belagavi district since Friday night.

Narayan Redekar (40) from Wadgaon, Ningappa Kalyanatti (60) from Bailhongal and Ramu Pundalik (32) from Raibagh were the three who committed suicide. Radekar had lost all hopes of earning from his 1.2 acre land as the Ballari nala had flooded his land, damaging his crops. Radekar, who was already in debt, was worried about raising fresh loans to cultivate his land. Father of four children, he hanged himself at his residence.

Kalyanatti, who owned 12-acre land, had taken big loans, including Rs 11.5 lakh to buy a tractor and trailer, Rs 3 lakh for agriculture activities from Women’s Self-help Group in his wife’s name and another Rs 2.5 lakh from money-lenders. He had grown cotton in five acres and soyabean in the rest. He was under tremendous pressure to repay the loans, but the crops in his land had withered due to the dry spell. On reaching home on Friday night, he consumed poison and died.

For Pundalik, repayment of his Rs 4 lakh loan had become impossible with the interest going over Rs 3 lakh. Crops in his 4-acre land had dried up, and he committed suicide by consuming poison.