• Shabbir Ali visits the family of Bhiknoor farmer who committed suicide
• Congress blames TRS Govt for farmers’ suicide, call them ‘institutional murders’

Hyderabad/Kamareddy, February 19, 2022: Former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Saturday alleged that hundreds of farmers have committed suicide due to huge debts and the glitches in the Dharani portal.

Shabbir Ali visited the family of Magani Rajaiah, a farmer of Manthani Devunapalli village in Bhiknoor mandal of Kamareddy district, who committed suicide two days ago.

Speaking to media persons later, Shabbir Ali said that Rajaiah had left a suicide note stating that he fell into huge debts as he could not get proper price for the maize and paddy crops which he raised after taking loan from private financers. Further, he was unable to dispose of his farm land as it was placed in the Prohibited List on Dharani portal. Despite repeated requests to the authorities, the glitches involving his land were not cleared. Since Rajaiah was unable to clear debts and bear expenses of his treatment, he committed suicide.

In a similar case, he said one more farmer, Murali Kishan, of Kamanpur mandal in Peddapalli district, committed suicide on Friday due to Dharani portal issue. About 20 Guntas of land which he owned in Survey No. 26 was placed in the Prohibited List. He went from pillar to post to get his land removed from the Prohibited List. Neither the District Collectorate nor Revenue officials resolved his grievance. He was unable to sell his land to clear off the debts incurred due to loss of crop and consequently, he committed suicide.

Stating that the suicides of Rajaiah and Murali Kishan were not isolated cases, Shabbir Ali alleged that hundreds of farmers have committed suicide ever since the implementation of Dharani over an year ago. He said that the Dharani system has badly hit the small farmers who own small pieces of land. He said there was no mechanism in place to deal with the grievances related to Dharani portal. He said the entire system was full of glitches although the authorities have been trying in vain to highlight it as successful.

Citing an example, Shabbir Ali said his own lands in different survey numbers were not visible in the Dharani website. He said many farmers were facing hurdles in selling or purchasing lands due to technical glitches in the Dharani portal. He alleged that most of the lands were placed in the list of the prohibited land, without evaluating the land details and classification.

Shabbir Ali demanded that the State Government pay compensation to the families of all the farmers who committed suicide due to Dharani-related issues. He said lives of hundreds of farmers were lost not due to suicide, but due to inhuman and non-responsive behaviour of TRS Govt. He described those suicides as ‘institutional murders’ committed by a lethargic, arrogant and dictatorial government headed by Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao.

Shabbir Ali informed that the Congress party has extended some financial assistance to Rajaiah’s family and also assured that he would extend all possible help to his widow and two children in future. He also extended financial assistance to the families of other farmers who died recently due to various causes. However, he said that the State Government must take responsibility of families of all the farmers who committed suicide to debts and Dharani website.