Bengaluru: State government has been asked to file an affidavit in two weeks listing out the measures taken to prevent farmers from committing suicide by High Court on Friday.

The directive came from a division bench of acting Chief Justice Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Justice B V Nagarathna which was hearing the PIL filed by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority over non-implementation of programmes launched for farmers such as Suvarna bhoomi.

Advocate Poonam Patil, representing KSLSA, drew the attention of the bench to the issues of farmers. Advocate General Ravivarma Kumar sought two weeks’ time to file the affidavit. Kumar told the court that the state is facing severe drought. He also said that the farmers are further stressed due to falling prices of sugar — it has dropped from Rs 30 to Rs 20 per kg — and non-payment of dues by sugar mills.

(Agencies)