Chennai
In a statement here, Mr Karunanidhi expressed grief and anguish over the suicide of a young farmer Azhagar at Orathur village in Ariyalur district of Tamil Nadu on Friday. He said close on the heels of the assault on a farmer Balan in Thanjavur district by police and private bank personnel over non-payment of loan borrowed for purchase of tractor, Azhagar had ended his life by consuming pesticide after his tractor was seized by the private finance company for defaulting on a loan taken for the vehicle.
The DMK chief said Azhagar had taken a loan of Rs seven lakh for purchasing a tractor from a private finance company and was said to have re-paid about Rs five lakh. But he could not pay the remaining instalments due to losses following which a group of staff of the private finance company seized the tractor, abused and insulted the farmer in public. Following this, Azhagar committed suicide. he added. Stating that the elections were due in two months, he appealed to the farmers to wait for blossoming of a farmer-friendly government that would redress all their grievances.
Waive farm loans: Ramadoss
Meanwhile, Dr Ramadoss, in a statement, wanted waiver of the farm loans availed by farmers to put an end to such suicides. Quoting statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau, he said a total of 2,423 farmers have committed suicide from 2011 to 2015 and said waiver of the loans availed by them would be the only solution to put an end to such suicides.
Pointing out that the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments have waived the farm loans following suicides by farmers, Dr Ramadoss said in Tamil Nadu also the loans should be waived. Stating that his party has promised that it would waive all the loans availed by farmers, he said after the elections there would be a full stop to the farm loans and suicides by the farmers.
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