Bhubaneswar, March 16: The government today admitted farmers had committed suicides in the state but said not a single incident was due to crop failure.

The written reply placed by the agriculture minister, Pradeep Maharathy, in the Assembly attributed the deaths to various factors such as illness, mental disorder and alcoholism.

According to the government report, 174 farmers had committed suicide last year. The highest number of suicide cases was reported from Bargarh district, where 26 farmers killed themselves. From 2000 to 2004, 3,439 cases of farmer suicides were registered in the state.

Interestingly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and chief minister Naveen Patnaik had visited the district and interacted with farmers. While Modi and Naveen maintained a stoic silence on the issue of farmers' death, Rahul had targeted both of them on the sensitive issue of farmer suicides.

In its report submitted to the Assembly, agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy cited depression caused by heavy medical expenses as one of the major reasons for the suicides.

In some cases, the government said farmers committed suicide after consumption of alcohol and family disputes. In the case of Pari Nag, who belongs to Bangamunda block in Balangir district, the government said he died due to his drinking habits and domestic violence.

The government report of Thikladar Sahu of Sohel block in Bargarh district stated the cause of death due to heavy alcohol consumption. In the case of Bishnu Majhi from the same district, the report said his death was not due to crop loss but because of some mental disorder.

Senior BJP leader Pradeep Purohit said: "It is unfortunate that the Odisha government is not ready to accept the true cause of suicides by marginal farmers. Most of them had committed suicide due to loan burden and severe loss of crops due to drought. The government should come up with a vision plan on this issue."

Congress MLA Prakash Behera said: "The government is giving misleading reports on t farmer suicides. It should place the correct information on this sensitive issue. What is significant is that even though the farmers had lost around 90 per cent of their crops, the government was not ready to accept that farmers committed suicide because of their sorry plight."

"If the government finds any loopholes in the report prepared by the officials, action will certainly be initiated against them," said BJD spokesperson Sashi Bhusan Behera.

However, a state government official claimed all necessary measures were being taken to address the issue of drought. "Despite the non-release of funds by the Modi government at the Centre, the state has given agricultural input subsidy to the farmers to take up cultivation again," said the official.