HIGH SUICIDE RATIO IN PONDA

PONDA: Ponda might not be one of Goa's biggest towns but it certainly has some alarming suicide figures in recent years. In 2010, Ponda saw a 5% rise in suicide cases as compared to 2009, according to Ponda police records.

The police registered 38 cases of suicide in 2009 and that number rose to 42 in 2010. On an average, over three persons committed suicide every month in 2010, which means that one person committed suicide every nine days.  The number has been slowly increasing since 2007 when 37 people ended their lives. In 2008 the number went up to 39.

The shocking statistics hidden in these numbers are all the more reason to worry. Police files show that almost half of the suicide victims were between the ages of 15 and 44-the period when people are at their most productive.

It was also brought to light that more men in Ponda ended their lives in the past year compared to women (36 men and six women).  Fr Walter De Sa, psychologist and principal of St Xavier's College, Mapusa, said that the rising number of men committing suicides is directly proportional to stiff masculine emotional pattern that could break but not bend.

"Men are easily frustrated and cannot cope with the stress. They think that killing themselves is the best way to avoids conflict," said De Sa. On the other hand women are more emotionally balanced, he added.

Records attribute the majority of suicide cases in Ponda to stress, financial difficulties and troubled relationships. The figures also showed that the most common way for suicide victims to end their lives was by hanging.

Twenty-three people hanged themselves in the last year and 10 others died by drowning. Four people set themselves afire and another five consumed poison or overdosed on medication.

Ponda police inspector C L Patil attributed most of the rising suicide cases to liquor addiction.

He said that persons addicted to alcohol tend to lose their jobs and self respect. They see suicide as the only way out for them. According to Patil, the government needs to initiate programmes to prevent youth from getting addicted to alcohol and hence, help them make better choices.