Debts, lack of employment lead to suicide of another weaver in Sircilla

Palle Yadagiri (46), who was unable to get work during the last six months, was found hanging in his home. Family members noticed the body in the morning.

Rajanna-Sricilla: Mounting debts coupled with lack of employment for over six months forced yet another handloom worker to end his life in Sircilla. A sizing worker with a weaving unit here, Palle Yadagiri (46) hanged himself to death at his Bynagar house in Sircilla town on Tuesday night. He had attempted suicide last week as well, according to relatives.

Hailing from the Gouda community, Yadagiri was engaged in warping and sizing in weaving units for the last 30 years. Earlier, he used to earn about Rs.16,000 to Rs.20,000 per month. Yadagiri, who borrowed money for his daughter’s marriage, had ended up with debts, which kept mounting as he was unable to get work during the last six months. Relatives said there were regular arguments in the family over the rising debts. Yadagiri’s wife Manjula left the home as well due to the frequent arguments, they said.

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With no solution in sight, Yadagiri allegedly consumed a chemical in an attempt to end his life last Wednesday. However, his nephew saved him by immediately shifting him to the hospital. On Tuesday night, Yadagiri again attempted to die, this time by hanging himself from a ceiling rod and died. He was survived by his wife Manjula and two daughters Lahari and Niharika.

Manjula, in a complaint lodged with the police, said Yadagiri died because he was unable to clear his debts and due to lack of employment. Based on the complaint, police registered a case and began an investigation.

KTR calls it another murder by Govt

Meanwhile, expressing shock over the suicide of yet another handloom worker in Sircilla, BRS working president K T Rama Rao on Wednesday reiterated that this too, like the other recent weaver suicides, was a murder committed by the State government. He said the death of Yadagiri by suicide was due to to the administrative failure of the Congress government.

Voicing concern over the wretched conditions prevailing in the handloom sector, he said the sector was thrown into crisis because of the neglect it was subjected to by the administration under Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. Attributing the distress situation in the sector to the abrupt suspension of the assistance extended to weavers during the BRS regime, Rama Rao called for immediate steps to stop further suicides. He also demanded a payment of Rs.25 lakh as compensation to the family that lost its source of livelihood with the death of Yadagiri.

Though there were at least 12 suicides of weavers and ancillary workers from the sector since January, the State government is said to be considering only six of them as suicides, with a three-member committee constituted to verify the ‘genuineness’ of even these suicides.