Farmer ends life over poor relief

 The farmer identified as Babbu Kushwaha, who suffered 70 per cent burns, succumbed to his injuries on Saturday at a hospital, police sources here said.

Kushwaha and hundreds of other farmers, whose lands were acquired for the project, had been staging a dharna for the past several days demanding hike in the compensation rate.
A senior district official was holding talks with the agitating farmers on Friday evening when the incident occurred, police said.

A large number of farmers from the nearby areas later blocked a state highway in protest against the incident.

The project proposes to raise the height of the Kabrai dam and the district officials had been negotiating with the farmers for acquiring their lands.

The entire Bundelkhand region is highly backward and lacks fertile lands. It has witnessed successive crop failures owing to scanty rains and a large number of farmers have migrated to other places looking for jobs.