Chandigarh: A 55-year old farmer on Thursday allegedly ended his life by consuming poison at the Shambhu border of Punjab and Haryana amid ongoing protest. A suicide note was also reportedly found in his pocket which read that he was anguished over the Punjab and Modi governments' failure to address the farmers' concerns.

It is the second such incident in about three weeks’ time at Shambhu border where a large number of farmers have been camping (besides at Khanauri border), under the aegis of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) since February 13, 2024, to press the Centre for their demands including minimum support price and debt waiver.

The farmers had also repeatedly attempted to take out their ``Delhi chalo’’ foot-march towards Delhi but were stopped by the Haryana police by lobbing teargas shells and using water cannons which left several farmers injured.

According to farm union leaders, the farmer, Resham Singh, a resident of Pahuwind village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran district, who consumed the pesticide at Shambhu border, was first taken to nearby Rajpura hospital Thursday morning from where he was rushed to a hospital in Patiala after his condition deteriorated, where he was declared brought dead.

The farm union leaders said that the farmer took the extreme step as he was reportedly upset with the Centre’s failure to resolve farmers' concerns and the worsening health of farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on a fast-unto-death since November 26, last.

The leaders said that the post mortem and the last rites of Resham Singh would not be performed until the government gave the family of the deceased Rs 25 lakh relief, a government job to the next of the kin and waive all his pending loans. Farmer’s body would be kept in the hospital mortuary till these demands were met, they added. The leaders also sought a police probe into the matter and asked farmers to trust their leaders and must not indulge in taking such extreme steps.

It may be recalled that earlier on December 18, a farmer, Ranjodh Singh, 57, of Khanna town, had also consumed insecticide on December 14 at Shambhu border. He later died on December 18. He was said to have been anguished over the worsening health condition of farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, 70, who was on a fast-unto-death for the past several days at Khanauri border.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, another farmer was rushed to hospital after he sustained burns at Khanauri border on Thursday. The farmer, Gurdial Singh, 40, a native of Samana town reportedly suffered burns due to sudden fire which broke out in a makeshift water heater at Khanauri border protest site.

It may be recalled that Dallewal’s fast-unto-death entered 45^th day on Thursday, even as the doctors attending on him have expressed their concern over his deteriorating health.