The family of the deceased, Yunus Seikh, said he consumed pesticides last night and was admitted to Burdwan

Medical College. Seikh died early morning today, said Jiarul Rehman, a relative of the deceased. District administration has ordered an inquiry into the farmer’s death.

Omkar Singh Mina, DM, Burdwan, said an inquiry has been ordered to look into the death. No suicide note has been recovered and it is difficult to believe that drought situation led the farmer to commit suicide.

Rehman said Seikh had taken a loan of Rs 30,000 from a private financier for cultivation work on his land of 7 bighas. Last year too, he had taken a loan but had incurred a loss because of drought.

Arindam Neogi, SDO of Burdwan (North), said farmers in the area depend on irrigation water from the DVC canal. The DVC authority has already announced that they would not release water from the dam due to shortage of water in the reservoir. The farmers had sowed seeds in anticipation of adequate water supply from the DVC, said Neogi.

The CM on Saturday held a high-level meeting at Burdwan town with district magistrates of Burdwan, Hoogly, Bankura, Purulia and Birbhum.

In Purulia district, which is badly hit by drought, the farmers have sown seeds on only six per cent of the agriculture land. In Burdwan and Birbhum districts, the utilisation of land for

cultivation has been around 75 per cent but in Birbhum and Bankura districts, it has been only about 30-35 per cent.