Another debt-end on the eve of PM’s visit

Owner of three acres of land in Jadhav basti near Nashik, he cultivated grapes and cauliflower. Jadhav had mortgaged a part of his land for Rs 35,000. Later, with the slow progress of the monsoon after an initial downpour in May, the worry for water forced him to dig a well. He spent nearly Rs 35,000 on the well, which is still not complete.

He even had to borrow money from his sister for his grape plantation. ‘‘He had already taken a loan of Rs 65,000. I lent him a lot of money but never kept track because he was my brother. I know his inability to pay back bothered him,’’ said his sister Leelabai Kaloge

According to his family, Jadhav had been worried that the produce from his fields would not be sufficient to repay the loan taken from a private bank. The impending marriage of his two daughters also bothered him.

District officials are probing Jadhav’s case to see if his family would be eligible for compensation. ‘‘On paper, there are no loans from any cooperative or government bank,’’ says Niphad tehsildar P S Patil. ‘‘We are looking into the other sources from whom he could have borrowed money. Our report will be ready soon.’’

Over the last five years, nearly 200 farmers have committed suicide in North Maharastra, which include 84 cotton farmers from

Jalgaon, 23 from Dhule and 20 from Ahmadnagar. However, families of only 65 farmers have received compensation from the government.