Rain-hit Chikkamagaluru farmer ends life; one faces warrant

CHIKKAMAGALURU/BELAGAVI: Unable to cope with the devastation caused by rain and landslides that washed away his plantation and paddy fields in August, a Chikkamagaluru farmer shot himself dead on Saturday. Channappa Gowda's family members said he had been depressed ever since his farmland was washed away.
A hapless farmer in Saundatti taluk in Belagavi district, who lost his home and the entire 11-acre sugarcane crop to the recent floods, is aghast after he was slapped with an arrest warrant for defaulting on his bank loan repayment.
Belagavi deputy commissioner S B Bommanahalli directed the bank, which issued the warrant to Irappa through a court, to revoke it immediately. The DC said that the farmer was eligible for the loan waiver scheme. "Farmers have been facing several problems following the floods. Action will be taken against those banks who issue notices," the DC said.