Crop failure in certain pockets of Jharsuguda: BJD team

A ruling BJD team which visited Jharsuguda district after the alleged suicide of a farmer,
today said there have been crop failure in certain pockets of the district.
   
"We are not sure about cause of farmer's suicide in Jharsuguda district. But there had been crop failure in Lakhanpur block area of Jharsuguda where one Gourahari Patra committed suicide", Kishore Mohanty, MP who led the BJD team said. The BJD team's observation came after the delegation visited the village of the deceased farmer.
   
The opposition BJP and the Congress demanded Orissa agriculture minister Damodar Rout's resignation alleging that the farmer in Jharsuguda district had committed suicide due to crop failure and loan burden and the minister had suppressed the facts.
    
However, Rout refused to step down saying "Whatever I said on alleged farmer suicide case in Jharsuguda district were based on the reports available with me. I have never tried to hush up farmer suicide cases."
    
Rout had said earlier "that the farmer's suicide in Jharsuguda district had nothing to do with cultivation but due to domestic disputes."