Gorakhpur: Farmer tries to immolate himself, demands loan waiver

Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India] Mar. 26 (ANI): Bending to the pressure of massive loans, a farmer tried to take his life by immolating himself outside Gorakhnath Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur today, but was rescued by the locals. After the locals intervened and stopped him from the taking the extreme step, he was immediately detained by the police and taken to the nearby police station. "Nobody is there to listen to my plea. I am under a huge debt and my health is deteriorating. I need help," A sobbing Rajkumar Bharti said. Bharti, who is from Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh, was prevented from by the people present there near the temple at the time. He demanded loan which he took for his treatment. It is not yet clear as to whether Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took note of the demand made by the person. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the new Uttar Pradesh government would take a decision in its first cabinet meeting on the loan waiver scheme for the farmers of state. No such step has been taken by the Yogi Adityanath government till now. Earlier, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley ruled out farm loan waivers by the Centre but said states can utilise their own resources in this regard. He clarified that the Centre will not adopt a selective approach by helping one state and not the others. "This issue (loan waiver) has cropped up in several states. The Centre has its policies for agriculture sector under which we provide interest subvention and other support. We will continue to give all that. If a state has its own resources and want to go ahead in that direction, it will have to find its resources. The situation where the Centre will help one state and not the others will not arise," Jaitley said in the Rajya Sabha. (ANI)