Natural calamities cause death of 35 farmers in Uttar Pradesh

LUCKNOW: While Opposition parties claim that more than 75 farmers have either committed suicide or died due to shock over crop failure in Uttar Pradesh, the state government has acknowledged 35 deaths due to unseasonal rains and inclement weather. The unseasonal spell of rains and freak weather have led to reports of farmers in distress pouring in from all parts of the state. However, the state government has claimed that these deaths are not due to crop failure but due to the natural calamity.

"No case of suicide or shock death due to crop failure has been ascertained as yet. However 35 farmers have died due to calamity like lightining, house collapse etc. We are providing compensation of Rs7 lakh to each of these 35 farmer’s families" Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said. He said that the compensation being paid to farmers is much more than the amount ofRs 1.5 lakh fixed by the central government.