MP Farmer, Who Gave Suicide Threat to DM Demanding Gram Crop Dues, Kills Himself
Seoni district magistrate claims the deceased wasn’t a farmer and did not own any farmland
Bhopal/Seoni: Miffed with non-payment of 120 quintal gram crops dues by the district administration after four months of selling it, a 32-year-old debt-ridden farmer committed suicide in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh.
Ironically, three days before attempting suicide, he wrote a letter, reportedly with blood, to the Seoni district magistrate (DM) seeking payment of Rs 5.50 lakh for his sold gram crops. In the letter, he threatened to commit suicide unless his dues were cleared by September 28, 2018.
With the district administration not budging on the matter, the farmer consumed pesticide on September 29 afternoon, and later died during the late hours of October 1 in Nagpur hospital, where he was undergoing treatment for poisioning.
The deceased, identified as Saint Kumar Sanodiya (32), a resident of village Bhandarpur, was a sharecropper and owned farmland of around 20 acres. He mostly grew gram and wheat. He lived with his parents, who are also farmers, and they together own around 10 to 15 acres, according to the villagers. He survived by his wife and two children.
A day after his death, the family members along with villagers, blocked the National Highway Barwani bypass with his body, for almost half day, demanding Rs 1 crore compensation and a job to a kin.
Hours after negotiations with the district administration, they (kin) agreed on Rs 10 lakh compensation and free education for his children from the Chief Minister's Voluntary Relief Fund.
People Allege Apathy
Madhya Pradesh is one of the states which has reported the highest number of farmer deaths. As per media reports, in last 15 years more than 18,000 farmers have committed suicide in the state.
The younger brother of the deceased, Gyan Singh Sanodiya, 28, who is also a farmer, alleged that it was the apathy of district administration towards non-payment of sold crops that cost his brother's life.
“Despite a threat letter with blood to the district administration to clear the dues of sold crops, the administration neither made any payment nor responded to him. As a result, he consumed pesticide owing to disappointment and died during treatment in Nagpur,” said Gyan Singh, adding that as the matter came to light, the district administration was somehow trying to brush the matter under the carpet by making false claims.
Gyan Singh further said that after harvesting gram crop in May, his brother sold 120 quintal gram crops at Mariya Mandi of Seoni district in the first week of June with the name of land owners (photo of receipts in attachment). As per government rules, farmers can only sell crops with the name of landowners, not the sharecropper’s. “He was desperately waiting for the payment of crops as he had a debt of Rs 11 lakh on his head”, his Gyan Singh added.
Interestingly, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah are scheduled to visit the district this week (October 6) as part of the ‘Jansampark Abhiyan’ ahead of the Assembly polls due this November.
The kin of the deceased are planning to raise the issue in front of CM Chouhan and BJP Chief Shah to get support and justice.
Gyan Singh said, “We have heard about CM Chouhan and Amit Shah’s visit to Seoni. So, I have planned to take part in the event with my widowed sister-in-law and my two nephews to raise the issue before them and get justice.”
District Administration’s Claim
However, the district magistrate of the Seoni, Gopal Chandra Dad, has a different set of claims. When contacted, he first denied that Saint Kumar Sanodiya was a farmer, and claimed that he did not own any land.
“On investigation conducted after his death, the district administration has found that, neither was Saint Kumar a farmer nor did he sell any crop to any mandi. He was a small businessman who owned no land. So, there is no point of making any payment,” said the DM.
If his claims are true, they beg an answer as to why then did the district administration offer Rs 10 lakh to the deceased's family as compensation as well as free education to his children?
On the basis of investigation, the district administration claimed that it had to cancel the license of Varahtakarya Sarkari Sanstha which had stored the crops of farmers after the last date of online registration on June 7.
“During investigation, we found that the government authorised firm ‘Varahtakarya Sarkari Sanstha’, which collect the crops from farmers, had illegally stored the crops despite the closing of last date of crops online registration and made false claims of payment. So, the district administration cancelled its license with immediate effect,” said magistrate Dad.
Seoni MLA Dinesh Rai Munmun and farmers of Bhandarpur and nearby villages, however, refuted the district magistrate’s claim that the deceased was not a farmer.
When asked, Munmun said, “I know, he was farmer and also helped farmers in selling crops in the mandi. He doesn’t have any land but he was a sharecropper and was doing this for years.”
Sanjeev Kumar Sanodiya, a farmer who knew the deceased, said, “Saint was one among us who had sold crops and are waiting for payment. I know he had harvested the crops of around 20 acres recently on sharecropping. We had sold the crops in the same week and our payment is still due. More than 200 farmers’ payments are still due.
The 'Blood' Letter
To know the reason for delay in payment, Saint Kumar Sanodiya, along with other farmers frequently visited the DM's office but was kicked out by the collector the last time they went, claimed Gyan Singh.
Later, a delegation of farmers went to Jabalpur to meet the Commissioner but came back with empty hands.
Jolted with the recent incidents, Saint Kumar allegedly wrote a letter with the blood on September 25 and shared it on social networking site Facebook by tagging Seoni DM on the following day. He also attached his own photo with the letter on Facebook. Later, it went viral on WhatsApp too.
In the said letter, he said, "Even after four months of selling gram crops, we haven’t received any payment. If, I haven’t received payment by September 28, I will commit suicide and district magistrate will be responsible for my death.’
“My brother opted Facebook to reach out district magistrate because he was shooed away from DM office for demanding payment of the crop last time. He had wanted to build pressure on administration so they release payment but unfortunately he died owing to administration’s apathy,” said Gyan Singh.
When asked about the letter allegedly written with blood, the DM said, “I haven’t received any letter regarding payment of crops by Saint Kumar but on September 30, I received a hand written letter, which seems written with a sketch pen, with some text on my WhatsApp with different source. His claims of writing letter to us with blood is baseless.”
The Day of the Tragedy
On September 29, afternoon, Saint Kumar consumed pesticide name ‘Safachat’ which was kept in the house. As family members came to know about it, they rushed him to Seoni government hospital.
In hospital, he kept denying treatment and demanding payment of the crops. With the help of his kin, the doctors treated him and prescribed some medicine. “He was constantly chanting, I’m totally okay, leave me alone,” said Seoni's independent MLA, Munmun, who was in the hospital at that time. Later, the MLA also gave financial aid for his treatment.
As per eyewitnesses, Saint Kumar was normal and forcefully discharged himself after 30 hours of treatment. Later that day, he started complaining of stomach ache and was rushed to Nagpur where he was admitted in an emergency ward of a private hospital. Later that night, doctors declared him dead.
Suspecting foul play in the farmer’s death, the DM has constituted three-member investigation committee headed by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate Harsh Singh.
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