Jana Sena Party (JSP) Political Affairs Committee (PAC) chairman Nadendla Manohar on Thursday said that Andhra Pradesh was facing a humanitarian crisis with the next of kin of hundreds of tenant farmers who had ended their lives since mid-2019 being denied the ex gratia of ₹7 lakh they were entitled to as per G.O. 43.
Quoting the District Crime Records Bureaus statistics, Mr. Manohar told the media that a staggering 1,908 tenant farmers had committed suicide since June 2019, reportedly due to agrarian distress that had trapped them in debts.
The fertile Godavari region had seen 75 instances of suicide by tenant farmers since 2019 – 41 in West Godavari and 34 in East Godavari, the JSP leader said.
In the Godavari region, a fact-finding team, comprising activists of the Rythu Swarajya Vedika and the Human Rights Forum (HRF), had completed a study on the state of disbursement of ex gratia to the next of kin of the tenant farmers who had ended their lives due to the agrarian distress, Mr. Manohar said.
The study had revealed that none of the affected families was visited by the three-member committee that certified the farmers’ suicide, he added.
Mr. Manohar said the JSP would visit every such family and document the state of disbursement of ex gratia.
“By April 30, the State government must ensure that the ex gratia is disbursed to each affected family. If the government fails, JSP president Pawan Kalyan will begin visiting the families,” Mr. Manohar said.
Alleging that the State government was attempting to hush up the farmers’ suicide, Mr. Manohar said he was dismayed at the farmers belonging to the upper castes being declared as ineligible for financial assistance under the Rythu Bharosa.
“Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy should understand the pain and agony of the families of the farmers who ended their lives,” Mr. Manohar said.
