Twenty years after father, son too driven to suicide by crop loss, debts

Aggu Anasuya of Gurrevula village in Kannaigudem mandal in the district got married to Mallaiah of Lenkalagadda of Palimela mandal in Bhupalpally district 35 years ago.

Mulugu: A woman, who lost her husband 20 years ago due to crop loss and debts, has now lost her son for the same reason. Both father and son died by suicide.

Aggu Anasuya of Gurrevula village in Kannaigudem mandal in the district got married to Mallaiah of Lenkalagadda of Palimela mandal in Bhupalpally district 35 years ago.

---

The couple, who had a son and a daughter, cultivated their three acres of land at Lenkalagadda. However, following crop losses and consequent debts, Mallaiah ended his life by suicide when his son was 10-years-old.

Following this, Anasuya moved to her maternal village Gurrevula, where she worked as a labourer to raise their children and married off her daughter.

Her son Madhukar, who was working as a tractor driver, started farming four years ago at the village by taking land on lease. Recently he took one and half acres of land to cultivate chilli but the yield was low and he was left with a debt of Rs 2 lakh.

Madhukar used to worry about repayment of the debt as the returns from chilli were insufficient to clear the debt.

On February 9, Madhukar telephoned his relatives, told them he did not want to live and that he was going to end his life by consuming pesticide, a grieving Anasuya told the media. Following the information given by the relatives, Anasuya and the villagers searched for him and found him in an unconscious state in the forests near the village.

He died later. None of the elected representatives or officials extended any support to the family, she complained.