A farmer allegedly died by suicide in a village in the Chhatarpur district in Madhya Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region, police said. A five-page note addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was recovered from his person, saying that his body should be turned over to the government so that his organs could be sold to pay the hefty electricity bill of about 88,000 rupees, police said.
The farmer, who died on Wednesday, owned a small flour mill. He is survived by his three daughters and a son.
His relatives have denounced that the electricity company seized his flour mill and also his motorcycle.
The victim’s brother, who works at the power distribution company, said: “My brother ended his life due to harassment from the power distribution company. My brother was very upset and very stressed because the energy distribution company took over his flour mill and the motorcycle ”.
He said: “My brother couldn’t pay the electricity bills because there wasn’t a good harvest this year. Previously, there was an average bill of about Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per month, but suddenly you were handed a bill of about Rs 88,000. Without giving time to pay the bill, officials from the power distribution company in Chhatarpur district sent a legal notice to my brother and confiscated his flour mill and motorcycle. A team took the motorcycle from him, causing harassment and stress to my brother. He wanted some time to pay the bill, but officials refused to listen to his pleas. ”
The brother demanded strict action against those “responsible” for the death.
The note reads: “When there are scams by great politicians and businessmen, government employees take no action. If they take a loan, they get enough time to pay it off or they give up the loan. But, if a poor person takes out even a small amount of loan, the government will never ask why he could not repay the loan. Instead, he is insulted in public. ”
The Matguva Police Station in charge, Kamaljeet Singh, said: “We have a note. The deceased’s father and siblings tried to convince him not to stress over the bill. However, when his wife returned from her parents’ home, there was an argument between her and the victim over the unpaid bill. Later, he took the drastic step. However, an investigation is ongoing. ”
The MLA Congress and former Minister Harsh Yadav said: “Farmers and others are on the receiving end of power distribution companies. Or the teams of the energy distribution company or its recovery agents are harassing the farmers and others like anything. They seize and take away tractors, carts, bicycles, etc., what they get from farmers’ houses in the name of recovering electricity bills. That’s also when the kharif harvests were not good due to bad weather this year. ”
Despite the efforts, the chief engineer and the supervising engineer of the power distribution company could not be reached for comment.
Chhatarpur tax collector Sheelendra Singh said: “The deceased’s father receives a pension and also the benefit from Prime Minister Kisan Kalyan Yojna. His brother works in the energy distribution company. The administration immediately gave the family of the deceased 25,000 rupees ex gratia. An investigation will be conducted in relation to the incident and action will be taken if someone is found to be responsible for the suicide. “
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