Drought means death

• On June 14, Diloba Vaghela, 37, of Modasar took poison. He is survived by his wife, three daughters and a son.

Inquire at Sanand police station and the reply will be that no case of suicide has been registered in the last three months — except Kashiram Patel’s and his suicide has been attributed to mental instability.

But the villagers will tell you that the failed crop this year, like that of last year, has sounded the death knell for them.

The paddy seedlings in most villages of the taluka have dried up. And as August arrives — hot and dry — the farmers just don’t know what to do.

Amarsinh Solanki, chief of Fatehwadi Canal Bachao Samiti, says 30,000-odd farmers in Sanand have been affected by the dry spell. Farmers invest 40-50 per cent of savings in paddy and this year they have lost all of it.

Solanki says 25 farmers have committed suicides in the last year alone, but no complaints have been lodged. ‘‘Villagers don’t approach police as they don’t want any hassle,’’ he says.

Kashiram’s friend Sanabhai Patel says that Kashiram had taken five acres on rent in Moriya village. Like other farmers, his crop had failed last year and in the hope of making up, he had taken more land this year with a loan of Rs 30,000 from the lala.

But as the seedlings started drying up, he lost all hope. ‘‘He stopped going to the fields and would just sit all day,’’ says Sanabhai. ‘‘I would tell him to be strong. But he couldn’t take it.’’

He left behind a widow, two daughters and a son. And though his 18-year-old son has started working at a factory, he brings home Rs 15 a day. ‘‘We all knew he was tense but he never discussed his problems,’’ says son Kanubhai.

It’s the same story everywhere. Chandubhai’s father, Sakarbhai, 80, says the last five years have been bad. ‘‘This time, too, it didn’t rain and all the seedlings dried up. There is no money and being the head of the family, he was very disturbed,’’ he says. The deceased’s wife, Jasiben, weeps in a corner while her two children play, unaware of the tragedy.

The family avoided registering Chandubhai’s death. ‘‘Police ask you a thousand questions. If you tell them the reason was crop failure, they don’t believe you,’’ says the father. At Diloba Vaghela’s house, tears flow unchecked from the eyes of Rajuben, his eldest daughter. ‘‘The crop had failed and he had mortgaged the land for money which we had already spent. He wanted to get me married and had no money. The tension pushed him over the edge.’’

Agriculture Minister Purshottam Rupala says he’s ignorant of the suicides. ‘‘I have not received any such information,’’ Rupala says. District Collector K. Srinivas says he inquired into Patel’s case and said prima facie the reason seemed personal. ‘‘I have not inquired about the other two but this one seemed more of a suicide due to personal problems than failed crop,’’ he says.

Sanand taluka has not been announced drought-affected as yet. The collector says: ‘‘The second spell of rain saved most of the crop. The yield may be lower but failure has been averted.’’ But the farmers don’t agree.