Thiruvalla: Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan has alleged that the suicide of a farmer in Niranam was a State-sponsored murder.
After visiting Rajeev’s bereaved family here, he told the media that the farmer committed suicide after being heartbroken over the non-receival of insurance and compensation money for the crop destruction that occurred last time.
As per the rule, a farmer is eligible for Rs 30,000 as compensation for crop destruction in one hectare of paddy field. But Rajeevan and others got only Rs 2,500 for crop destruction in nine acres of land, Satheesan alleged.
'State must protect Rajeevan's family financially'
The Opposition Leader also urged the State government to take over the liability of Rajeevan in full and protect his family financially.
He also demanded that the CPM government procure the paddy that was destroyed in Upper Kuttanad, besides seeking compensation for losses suffered by farmers.
KPCC president K Sudhakaran, who accompanied Satheesan, wanted to know what kind of support is given to paddy farmers by the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government, which keeps on advising farmers not to keep the paddy fields barren.
'Rajeevan a martyr of LDF govt's wrong policies'
According to him, Rajeevan became a martyr due to the wrong policies of the LDF government. He alleged that the State was denying even minimum benefits to the farmers.
He ridiculed the left government by saying that the administration, which completely failed to solve the basic issues of the common man and the farmers, was going to implement the SilverLine semi-speed rail project for a whopping Rs 2 lakh crore.
Sudhakaran asked what kind of 'Rebuild Kerala' was the government planning by ignoring the issues of farmers.
He dared the government to explain publicly how they were going to help the farmers. The expression of farmers' love in mere words has no value, he added.
UDF convenor M M Hasan, Kerala Congress vice-chairman Joseph M Puthussery, MP Anto Antony and MLAs Mons Joseph and Mani C Kappan accompanied Satheesan and Sudhakaran.
