Withered crops, loans claim 9 more farmers lives in Telangana

Hyderabad: As many as nine farmers died in the past one day in Telangana, owing to mounting debts and crop failure. While four farmers committed suicide, five others died due to heart attack.

A farmer from Zaheerabad mandal of Medak district deliberately hit a fencing stone with his bike to commit suicide. Raju, 45, was unable to get bank loans and he owed Rs 3 lakh to private moneylenders.

Two farmers from Warangal, Nageshwar Rao, 35, from Bangya Tanda of Kuravi mandal hung himself while Dondi Ellaiah, 32, from Meripirala village of Rayparti mandal, consumed pesticide.

Madhav Rao, 50, from Mahadevpur mandal of Karimnagar district too consumed pesticide, while Raju, 22, hanged himself from a ceiling fan at his home in Peddapur village of Karimnagar district

Another farmer, G. Sampath, 50, of Gandrapalli village of Jammikunta mandal in Karimnagar district collapsed in his agricultural fields after incurring huge debts to raise crop that was ultimately attacked by pests.

Mettu Penta Reddy, 46, from Peepalpahad village of Choutuppal mandal in Nalgonda district is fighting for his life in a hospital after consuming pesticide.

Chityala Bal Reddy, 65, of Pamireddy village in Mahbubnagar district died of a heart attack. His family said he was worried that he would not able to repay the loans he had taken and the interest was mounting.

Sivanuri Hanmavva, 45, of Mandapur village in Domakonda mandal of Nizamabad district died of a heart attack, worried about not having any way to repay debts incurred in raising crop. Rajaiah, 60 of Venkateswarapalli in Warangal died of heart attack due to failure of his cotton crop.