Tiruvarur: Farmer ends life after crop failure

TIRUVARUR: A 60-year-old farmer allegedly committed suicide by consuming poison at Regunthapuram near Thiruthuraipoondi in Tiruvarur district on Thursday. Police said on Friday that the deceased was identified as Govindaraj, who had directly sown paddy seeds in five acres of land, but the seedlings did not come up, as there was hardly any water in the Cauvery and its canals. The rains have not been sufficient either this year.

In the backdrop of this development, police said the farmer was moving in and around his field and house in an apparently disturbed frame of mind. Later, on Sunday he was found missing. The family members searched for him and finally they found the body of Govindaraj on the southern banks of the Maraikka Koraiyaru river. Thiruthuraipoondi police removed the body and sent it for post-mortem. The leaders of various farmers association incl-uding P.R. Pandiyan, president of the coordination committee, expressed outrage at the incident and demanded that the Tamil Nadu government sanction at least Rs Five lakh as compensation to the deceased family, besides declaring Tamil Nadu as drought-hit state.

Mr Pandiyan also appealed to the State government to ‘register’ the suicide of Mr Govindaraj in a proper manner and to bring to the notice of the Union government for suitable remedial steps to the farming community.