Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy on Friday evening renewed his appeal to farmers not to commit suicide, but approach the government with their problems.
YSR's appeal came in the backdrop of a spate of suicides by farmers during the last one week.
Quoting official information, he said 11 farmers committed suicide since May 14, the day he took over as CM.
However, unofficial reports put the toll at 17.
To drive home the point, YSR appeared at a news conference with a distressed farmer, Mareppa Reddy, from his constituency Pulivendula in Cuddapah district.
He said the farmer's case would be verified and a package of relief would be extended to him.
YSR said that in the case of farmers like Mareppa, the government would extend help on par with the kin of the farmers who have committed suicide.
The relief package includes Rs 50,000 towards one-time settlement of all debts and Rs one lakh for their economic rehabilitation.
"If you commit suicide, the state will lose one farmer and your family will be completely devastated," YSR told farmers and urged the media to publicise the government's readiness to help them.
"I gather that even after four days of announcement of package, the farmers have not heard about it and are committing suicide," he admitted.
Asked whether there was a sudden spurt in suicides, he said that the previous government had completely shut its eyes and refused to recognise the problem.
"But our view is that there is no gain in sweeping the problem under the carpet," he said.
Asked if farmers were "motivated to commit suicide" as their families would get financial benefit now, he said the government needed to look into this aspect, but it was not true.
"We have directed the officials that the potential victims of suicide should also be helped on the lines of the kin of the farmers who have committed suicide," he pointed out. To ensure that the government was not cheated, the beneficiaries of the relief package would be selected only at the grama sabha of the concerned village.
Mareppa, the farmer whose five-acre lime plantation was completely devastated by drought and lack of groundwater, had told the CM that he was under tremendous pressure form debtors. "I have no way except committing suicide," the farmer told YSR.
Mareppa, who had dug 11 borewells in his field, had accumulated debt of Rs 3 lakh, including Rs 2.5 lakh from private moneylenders.
