Jajpur/Derabish: A farmer collapsed on his farmland and died while another died by suicide Saturday in Jajpur and Kendrapara districts, according to a report.
In the first incident, Maniram Mohanty, 62, at Manitappur in Chikana panchayat of Binjharpur block (Jajpur) collapsed and died after watching his harvested paddy and the rest of the standing crops lying submerged on the farmland in his village.
His family members said Maniram visited his farmland Friday morning but plunged into distress after watching his harvested paddy and the rest standing paddy crops lying submerged in the rainwater stagnating on his farmland. He tried to pick up some of the paddy shoots from the rainwater but suddenly collapsed on the spot. He was taken to the district headquarters hospital (DHH) where doctors declared him dead.
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Maniram was fully dependent on agriculture and had taken up cultivation on his three acre of farmland and two acre as a sharecropper.
Tehsildar Kailash Chandra Mahalik assured to inform the district Collector and take necessary steps to help out the family.
In the second incident, share-cropper Daitari Jena, 74, of Koshida in Khamol panchayat under Derabish police limits in Kendrapara first tried to end his life December 18 after his crop loss due to unseasonal rain.
Family members rushed him first to the DHH and later shifted him to the SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack where he succumbed during treatment Saturday.
Earlier, three farmer deaths in the last three days were reported from Ganjam, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts.
PNN