Suicide of Bengal potato farmers shocking: Somnath

Kolkata, March 24 (IANS) Former Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Tuesday described as "shocking" the spate of suicides by potato farmers in West Bengal due to alleged debt, and rued that the state government has not taken any steps on the issue.

"It is shocking. The state government has not taken any steps. It should have taken," Chatterjee told the media on the sidelines of an event here.

The situation would turn grave if the government did not take action.

"If it doesn't act, then there will be grave incidents in the future," said the octogenarian leader.

So far, four potato cultivators have committed suicide in the state this month, after a bumper production of the crop led to a steep price fall.

The victims' families have alleged that they took their own lives unable to repay the loans they had taken to cultivate the tuber.

However, state Agriculture Minister Purnendu Bose recently said the farmers committed suicide due to "personal reasons" but admitted that owing to a bumper production, the prices of potato fell steeply leading to distress among the farmers.

In the wake of the suicides, a public interest litigation has been filed before the Calcutta High Court in which the state government has been directed to file a report on the steps taken by it to counter the problem.