Why This Farmer Fell At Madhya Pradesh Official's Feet

Ajit Jatav, a farmer in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh, had paid Rs 40,000 six months ago for a small power transformer to work the pumps in his field. Since then, he has been making the rounds of the district collector's office, but no progress has been made in the matter.On Friday, seeing the district collector walk out of her office, he went and fell at her feet. The video has been circulated widely.

Mr Jatav told NDTV that he has completed all the paperwork necessary to get a transformer, but despite several requests, the administration of Ranaud village have not acted on it.

District collector Anugrah P said Mr Jatav's case is not singular. There are 50 such pending requests.

"There was no undue delay. It takes six months for installation after applying. There were others in the waiting list. He applied in August. But now we have given him the connection; we also have surveyed the crops and they are fine," she said.

The six-month delay to get a transformer is due to high demand and so, farmers are asked to pay the cost of the transformer beforehand.

Troubles in the farm sector are seen as one of the main reasons for the setback to the BJP in the recently held assembly elections in the state.

Pointing out that this was part of a scheme of the earlier BJP government, Chief Minister Kamal Nath said, "They had decided that maintenance work will begin after the elections, from December 1."

"Spoke to the collector, the BJP government had mistreated the farmers and hence the strong verdict from Madhya Pradesh," said senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Three-term Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was voted out a year after largescale farmers' protests in the state, during which six farmers had died in police firing at Mandsaur, the epicentre of the protests.

One of the first acts of the Congress government headed by Kamal Nath had been to write off the loans to the farmers. But the state's farmers are also suffering for not getting a better minimum support price, irrigation facilities and regular electricity in most villages.