In a tragic incident, a farmer from Chhatarpur allegedly died by suicide, stating his hefty electricity bill of Rs.88,000 as the prime reason. The farmer left a five-page note to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, saying his body should be handed over to the government so that his organs could be sold to realize his heavy electricity bill.
The farmer, who was the owner of a small flour mill was not able to pay the electricity bill due to lack of good crop this year. The power distribution company also sent the farmer a legal notice.
“Earlier, there was an average bill of about Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 per month but suddenly a bill of about Rs 88,000 was given to him. Without giving any time to pay the bill, the power distribution company officials sent a legal notice to my brother and seized his flour mill and motorbike.”
His letter reads, “When there are scams by big politicians and businessmen the government employees don’t take any action. If they take a loan they get enough time to repay it or the loan is waived. But, if a poor person takes even a small amount of loan, the government would never ask him as to why he was not able to repay the loan. Instead, he is insulted in public,” as reported by national media.
The deceased’s brother also works in the power distribution company. The administration immediately gave ex-gratia of Rs 25,000 to the deceased’s family. However, the chief engineer and the superintending engineer of the power distribution company couldn’t be reached for their comments.
