No farmer suicide in Tripura: Manik

Agartala: No farmer has so far committed suicide in Tripura due to crisis in the agriculture sector, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar today said.

“There is no record of farmers’ suicide due to crisis in agriculture as the government is sympathetic to their cause and always tried to stand beside them. But, some quarters are trying to equate the situation at par with other states where farmers’ suicide is rampant,” Sarkar told reporters here.

“While replying to a question by opposition MLA Ratan Lal Nath yesterday in the Assembly, I said among others, three farmers also committed suicide. But, those suicides are not related to the crisis in agriculture,” he said.

“When we came to know that three farmers have committed suicide, we investigated the incidents and found the causes which were either related to disease or addictions,” he said.

Sarkar said the state government was trying to lend its helping hand to the problems of the farmers, despite facing constraints.

“Ours is a deficit state and not a surplus one. Moreover, special category status of the state was withdrawn, but these could not stop us to help the farmers.

“We are trying to reach out to every farmer with the facility of irrigation, power at cheaper prices and helping them to get loans from banks. We are also giving subsidy to buy modern farming tools,” Sarkar, also the member of the CPI(M) Politburo, said.