BANGALORE: Agriculture Minister Bandeppa Kashempur on Friday told the Legislative Assembly that 217 farmers had committed suicide in 2006.

In a reply to a question of Basavaraja Rayareddy (Congress) during question hour, Mr. Kashempur said a committee set up to sanction compensation had settled 99 cases and rejected 71 claims.

The committee had sought more information in 47 cases for awarding compensation.

About Rs. 1 lakh was provided as compensation to each of the families of the farmers who committed suicide.

Under the Centre's package for farmers, Rs. 10,000 was provided to meet the education and medical expenditure to the kin of each of the deceased farmers in six districts of Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Belgaum, Kodagu and Chitradurga, which reported high incidence of suicide cases, he said.

Break-up

The number of suicide cases reported in different districts is as follows: Bagalkot 7, Bangalore Rural 4, Bidar 16, Hassan 21, Chamarajangar 2, Haveri 3, Uttara Kannada 5, Koppal 17, Chikmgalur 19, Raichur 3, Tumkur 11, Shimoga 15, Kolar 3, Kodagu 12, Belgaum 23, Davangere 9, Bellary 3, Chirtadurga 11, Gulbarga 9, Bijapur 11, Dakshina Kannada 4 and Gadag 9.

Not a single case had been reported from Bangalore Urban, Dharwad, Mandya, Mysore and Udupi districts, he said. The State Government submitted a proposal to the Centre to include 13 more agricultural "distress" districts under its farmer's package.

The Centre had announced Rs. 2,689 crore package for Karnataka for three-year period. The package would benefit farmers of Belgaum, Hassan, Kodagu, Chikmagalur, Chitradurga and Shimoga districts.

Of Rs. 2,689 crore, the Centre had released Rs. 1,568 crore. Of this, Rs. 1,121 crore constituted loans to farmers. About Rs. 50 lakh each had been released to each of the six districts, he said.

Crop insurance

To a question of Gurupadappa (Congress), Mr. Kashempur said the crop insurance of Rs. 82.75 crore had been distributed to 2.52 lakh farmers. In 2006-07, the department had collected premium of Rs. 9 crore and payment to farmers was delayed following delay in assessment of crop damage.

Vacancies

Mr. Kashempur said 532 posts of agricultural officers, 365 posts of assistant agricultural officers and 616 posts of agricultural assistants were vacant.

The Finance Department had cleared a proposal to fill 687 posts. All vacancies would be filled in three months, he added.

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