Deputy Speaker and Haveri MLA Rudrappa Lamani and Byadgi MLA Basavaraj Shivannavar have appealed to farmers not to misunderstand the statement of Haveri district in-charge Minister Shivanand Patil on farmers suicides.
Addressing a joint press conference in Haveri on Wednesday, Mr. Lamani and Mr. Shivannavar said that Mr. Patil has no intention of hurting the farmers or insulting the farmers and his statement has been wrongly presented.
Mr. Lamani said that it is being projected that because of high compensation, there has been an increase in farmers suicides, which was not what was intended.
“In the aftermath of the development, there have been protests by farmers and organsiations. I have spoken to them and clarified. The Minister and the government have lot of respect for farmers. The Minister’s statement should not be misconceived,” he said.
He said that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has already issued directions to the officials to consider cases of farmers suicides on humanitarian grounds and extend the necessary help. The government will respond to the problems of farmers, he said.
Mr. Shivannavar requested the farmers not to misunderstand the Minister’s statement. He pointed out that it was during the previous tenure of Mr. Siddaramaiah as Chief Minister that compensation for farmers suicides was increased to ₹5 lakh.
He said that being children of farmers, it is the responsibility of everyone to respond to farmers problems and they are doing it to boost the morale of farmers.
To a query, Mr. Shivannavar said that rain-fed dryland farming is the reason for farmers problems and there is no other employment opportunity for the people of the district other than farming, which has further worsened the situation of farmers in the district.
To another query, the MLAs said that the government has already made preparations for declaring 190 taluks as drought-hit. Already, three taluks in the district have been declared drought-hit. Soon, the other taluks too will be declared as drought-hit after holding ground survey, he said.
