Punjab farmer commits suicide demanding cancellation of stubble burning case

A farmer from Faridkot in Punjab allegedly committed suicide after consuming poison on Saturday. He committed suicide at the site of the ongoing protest, organised under the banner of the Bharatiya Kisan Unions (BKU), Ekta, and Sidhupur, demanding the authorities to cancel stubble burning cases registered against them in Faridkot's Jaitu.

The sit-in protest by the local farmers was going on for over a month. The deceased farmer has been identified as Jagsir Singh. He was rushed to the hospital after he allegedly consumed poison and breathed his last while receiving treatment. 

Suba Pradhan of BKU Jagjeet Singh said, "The farmers are protesting peacefully. The desolation among farmers is such that they are left with no other way. Under such desolation, he took such an extreme step of committing suicide."
Singh held that the government responsible for "what has happened."

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He denied the possibility of the deceased having any family or personal problem which led to his suicide. He said, "No such thing has come out that he had any problem in his family or with anyone else for that matter. The bottle found near his body had poison. The post-mortem will determine the cause. Meanwhile, we will hold a meeting and decide what to do next."
A civil hospital doctor said, "We tried to revive the patient. He could not be revived. The cause of death can be determined only after the post-mortem."
"The patient came to us after 9:30 and was declared dead by 9:55. Only after the chemical examination can we determine the compound (a poison that he consumed?)," the doctor added.

READ | Centre to come out with permanent solution to stubble burning: MoS Agri

'Centre working on finding a permanent solution of stubble burning': MoS Agriculture 

Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parshottam Rupala had earlier informed in Rajya Sabha that the Centre is working on formulating a scheme to find a permanent solution to the practice stubble burning by farmers and has constituted a committee to come out with a report on the matter in a month or two.

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READ | SC issues strict warnings to State governments for failing to curb stubble burningSC issues strict warnings to State governments for failing to curb stubble burning

(With inputs from ANI)