HASSAN: Former Minister Shivaram on Saturday alleged that the district in-charge Minister and the district administration had failed to provide compensation to the kin of farmers who had committed suicide.

Addressing presspersons here, he said between 2003 and 2006, 135 farmers committed suicide in Hassan district, but compensation had been given only to the kin of 23 farmers despite the release of Rs. 50 lakh to the district by the Prime Minister on July 6 last.

Mr. Shivaram said taking note of suicide by farmers in six districts of the State, the Prime Minister had announced a special package for these districts, including Hassan.

On November 18, 2006, the Principal Secretary to Agriculture and Horticulture wrote to deputy commissioners of Hassan, Belgaum, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga, Kodagu and Shimoga on how to use the funds released by the Prime Minister. They should meet the family members of farmers who had committed suicide and consider their problems.

He said that such families should be brought under the Yashaswini health insurance scheme and funds released by the Prime Minister could be used to meet the expenditure. Such families should be helped to become members of cooperative bodies so that they could avail themselves of loans.

Loan

Steps should be taken to ensure that such families got financial assistance at 4 per cent interest. If their earlier loan was Rs. 10,000 with interest, it should be repaid using funds released by the Prime Minister, the former Minister said.

Mr. Shivaram said so far neither the district in-charge Minister nor the district administration had taken any action in this regard.

He welcomed the statement of the Chief Minister that the Government was thinking of waiving loans taken by farmers. But he did not agree with the statement that the Government would recover the encroached land and auction it to raise funds towards waiving loans. Farmers' loans amounted to Rs. 25,000 crore, and the authorities had identified 1,085 acres of encroached land.

Even if the land value was put at Rs. 5 crore an acre, it would come to Rs. 5,425 crore. All encroached land did not belong to the Government directly.

Mr. Shivaram, who was a member of the assessment committee on encroachment of land, said all such land did not belong to the Government directly.

Some property belonged to the Wakfs Board, Bangalore Development Authority, Revenue Department, and city corporations. Recovered land would go to respective institutions, and there would be no question of auctioning it, he said.

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