Union Minister of State for Agriculture Sanjeev Baliyan today attacked the Uttar Pradesh government for giving "false" figure of suicides by farmers in the state and said over 300 farmers have killed themselves since the unseasonal rains battered the rabi crops.
Baliyan told reporters that the figure of three suicides of farmers given by the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav was "false".
"In my estimate, more than three hundred farmers in UP have already committed suicide," the Union minister said, adding that the state government was concealing facts.
He criticised the UP government for "failing" to take urgent remedial measures for tackling the problems of farmers resulting from non-seasonal rains.
Baliyan demanded that repayment schedule of all existing loans of farmers should be immediately restructured and all interests for the ongoing year should be waived off.
The Union minister also demanded that all the government officials starting from patwari-level right up to the District Magistrates should immediately be issued directives stating that if they concealed facts pertaining to woes of farmers, they would be meted out with stringent punishment.
