A fortnight after a farmer's daughter committed suicide to save her father from her wedding worries, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has sent Rs 100,000 to her family, an official said on Thursday.
A delegation comprising District Collector P. Siva Sankar, CEO of Parbhani Zilla Parishad Sushil Khodvekar (both IAS officers), Vasantrao Naik Shetkari Swavalambi Mission (VNSSM) Chairman Kishore Tiwari and other officials visited Javlajhuta village and handed over the cheque from the CM's Relief Fund to the bereaved family on Wednesday.
Sarika Suresh Zute, a Class 12 Arts student of Shivani College in Beed, was found hanging in her home on August 9.
Just five days earlier (August 3), her heavily debt-ridden farmer-uncle, Chandikadas Zute, had consumed poison and ended his life in a field.
In her suicide note, Sarika had expressed apprehensions that her debt-hit farmer-father may contemplate suicide like her uncle Chandikadas if he failed to raise money for her marriage which was planned for in 2018.
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The double-suicide in a single family within a week was first highlighted by IANS (August 10), besides four other suicides that week in the same village of Parbhani district, which got scanty rains this monsoon.
The delegation also handed over cheques of the same amount to the other bereaved families.
A UK-based NRI Rohit Shelatkar of Mumbai-based NGO Grand Maratha has decided to adopt the two brothers of Sarika Zute -- Sachin, a second-year BSc student in Jivandeep College in Beed and 12-year-old school-going Sunil.
The NGO would provide for their full education and offer them suitable jobs after graduation in their group companies, he said.
"The condition of the farmers in this region is horrible, the roads are very bad, they suffer frequent power cuts, water is scarce, farmlands are destroyed even after the second sowing due to failed monsoons," Tiwari told IANS early on Thursday.
Discussing the ground reality of Javlajhute, he said Sarika Zute lay unattended for over six hours as there was no doctor to perform her autopsy in the nearest primary health centre.
Tiwari said neither the Collector nor the CEO bothered to visit and enquire about the plight of the people in the region till the VNSSM took the initiative. Even the local SDO and tehsildar went there after the matter was highlighted by IANS.
"I am writing today to CM seeking action against the top bureaucracy for their irresponsible behaviour and demanding suspension of the lower officers," Tiwari said.
--IANS
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