Chennai: Tamil Nadu government has submitted before the Madras High Court that there was no suicide by farmers in the state.
In a counter to a PIL, which alleged that five farmers had committed suicide due to poverty and drought conditions, state Revenue Deputy Secretary said government had taken all precautionary steps to ensure that farmers had a successful cultivation in the delta districts.
"The alleged averments in the writ petition that the farmers had committed suicide were not correct. The records revealed that certain persons committed suicide due to health, family problem and accidental death. In certain cases, due to their old age, natural death have also occurred, therefore the averments are denied as false," the counter said.
The counter said there was a shortfall in the rains received by the state and due to insufficient storage as well as poor inflow and non-release of water by Karnataka, water for irrigation could not be released from the Mettur dam from June 12.
Since `Kuruvai` (short-term) paddy could not be sown in the delta districts following the adverse conditions, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had ordered uninterrupted power supply for 12 hours in the delta districts, it said.
Jayalalithaa had also announced a special package and additional special package to mitigate the stress situation prevailing in the area. The government had also increased the disaster response fund.
A high-level committee, headed by state Finance Minister O Panneerselvam, was constituted and visited the affected areas and its report was awaited, the counter said.
Not satisfied with this, the petitioner filed a miscellaneous petition seeking a probe by CBI into the deaths of the farmers.
The First Bench, comprising acting Chief Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, ordered issue of notice on the petition returnable in a week.
PTI
