Farmer's desperate wait ends in tragedy: Heart attack claims life as Urea shortage bites hard

Tikamgarh (The Uttam Hindu): The acute shortage of fertilizer (urea) in Tikamgarh district of Madhya Pradesh is now proving fatal. On Monday, a 52-year-old farmer died of a heart attack while waiting in line to get the fertilizer. This tragic incident took place at a government warehouse in Badora village of the district, where a long queue of farmers had gathered since morning. The deceased farmer has been identified as Jamuna Kushwaha, who was struggling to arrange fertilizer for his farm.

Chhakki, the younger brother of the deceased Jamuna Kushwaha, said that his brother had been struggling to find fertilizer for the past two days. He had been making the rounds of the Badora warehouse, about 8 kilometers from his village, Bajarua, just to get two bags of urea, but he couldn't find it. On Monday, he was still standing in line, waiting for his turn, when he suddenly began vomiting and fell to the ground.

Local Tehsildar Satendra Gurjar, who was present at the scene, immediately rushed the ailing farmer to the district hospital in his official vehicle. Doctors tried to revive him, but he died during treatment. Chandrajeet Yadav, in-charge of the rural police station, confirmed that Jamuna Kushwaha died of a heart attack, based on the preliminary post-mortem report conducted by Dr. Deepak Ojha. Police have registered a case and launched an investigation.

It is worth noting that Tikamgarh district has been facing a serious urea crisis for the past several days, angering farmers. Protests are taking place everywhere due to the unavailability of fertilizer. The situation has become so uncontrollable that last week, farmers in Jatara town looted 30 to 40 bags of urea from a truck. On the same day, Monday, farmers from the Baldevgarh and Kharagpur areas, upset over the unavailability of fertilizer, blocked the Tikamgarh-Chhatarpur road for about three hours, severely disrupting traffic.