27 March,2016 07:16 PM IST | | A correspondent
27-year-old consumes pesticide outside Mantralaya's new administrative office to protest the alleged humiliation he had suffered at the hands of a district officer
Madhav Kadam consumed pesticide outside Mantralaya on Wednesday
Already grappling under drought, red tape was the last straw in Madhav Kadam's coffin. On Wednesday, the 27-year-old cotton farmer from Nanded consumed pesticide outside Mantralaya's new administrative office to protest the alleged humiliation he had suffered at the hands of a district officer when he questioned the poor compensation doled out to him. He succumbed on Saturday.
Madhav Kadam consumed pesticide outside Mantralaya on Wednesday
Kadam, who hailed from Loha taluka in Nanded, Marathwada, took up cotton farming with his brother a few years ago, but the two suffered huge losses when the monsoon failed last year. Kadam decided to make use of a government compensation scheme that offers R6,800 per hectare of land to farmers affected by drought. But he was given only R4,400 per hectare.
Hoping to get the remaining amount, he approached several officials and finally took the issue up with the district officer in Nanded on March 21. But instead of making amends, the official allegedly humiliated him and sent him away. Shaken, Kadam arrived in Mumbai the next day and consumed pesticide in front of Mantralaya on the night of March 23. The police rushed him to GT Hospital, where he passed away early Saturday.
The Marine Drive police has registered an accidental death report and dispatched Kadam's body to Nanded after a postmortem. They said an FIR would be filed only if family members wished that it be done.
