A human chain was held in Nilphamari on Saturday protesting the suicide of two indigenous farmers for allegedly not getting irrigation water in Rajshahi’s Godagari Upazila.
Jatiya Krishak Samiti formed the human chain at Chowrangi intersection of the district in the afternoon.
District Workers’ Party President Tapan Kumar Roy said two indigenous farmers– Adinath Marandi and Rabi Marandi– recently committed suicide in the upazila as they didn’t get a supply of irrigation water.
“Shakhawat Hossain, irrigation pump operator of Barendra Multipurpose Irrigation Project in that area, did not supply them with water and that’s why they killed themselves,” he claimed.
Tapan called upon the government to take necessary action to ensure exemplary punishment of those responsible for their deaths.
District Workers’ Party General Secretary Abed Ali and Krishak Samiti member Bulu Roy also spoke at the human chain program.
On March 24, Rabi along with his brother Abhinath Marandi, 30, took poison in front of accused Shakhawat Hossain, who is the operator of a deep tube well under Barind Multipurpose Development Authority (BMDA).
According to the deceased’s family, the victims took the decision out of anger as Shakhawat was not giving them a serial number for a long time to get irrigation water supplied to their field in Iswarpur while their seedlings were drying out.
Abhinath died around 9pm after reaching home while Rabi died at 8pm on the following day while undergoing treatment at Rajshahi Medical College Hospital (RMCH), said Brig Gen Shamim Yazdani, director of RMCH.
