The district administration on Sunday handed over compensation to the next of kin of Kuruba Subbaiah, a sweet lime farmer from Mukundapuram, who had committed suicide on Friday. Mukundapuram was in the news as thousands of sweet lime plants dried up because of non-release of irrigation water to the village tank during peak summer. After the farmers staged agitations, the district authorities visited the village, but nothing was done to salvage the crop. Pending billsThe government did not release ₹34 crore bills of the farmers towards the money spent for pressing water tankers into service to save the plantations. With failure of the crop and mounting debt, Subbaiah committed suicide, CPI(M) district secretary V. Rambhupal said.

Source: The Hindu July 21, 2019 18:45 UTC