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Women top suicide list in Andhra Pradesh

What do Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada have in common, besides being in Andhra Pradesh?

A large number of suicides, that's what. Large enough to get the state health and home departments worried stiff and deliberating about preventive measures.

The discovery was made when the state government undertook a study which showed that 720 people (mainly in the 25 to 35 age group) took their lives in 1997, showing a 20 per cent increase over the year before. The majority chose Tirupati, Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada -- in that order -- for the act.

Seventy per cent of the suicides occurred among women.

"Marital disorders, financial problems, failure in exams and love affair contributed most to such cases," authorities said.

The temple town of Tirupati, with 210 cases, was the most favoured venue for the unholy act. The major chunk was constituted by disenchanted love birds. Several criminals also found the town worth dying in.

Vishakhapatnam came second, recording 156 suicides. This includes 18 students and 10 sailors's wives -- the latter did it because exams were postponed due to question paper leaks while the former took the plunge thanks to adulterous hubbies.

The district crime office records show the majority of suicides among men were among those who had invested in non-banking finance companies. Nearly 1,000 of the 1,500 such companies in the state closed shutters and disappeared with deposits amounting to Rs 1.6 billion, ruining many a man.

In Vijayawada, it was bankrupt finance operators and flamboyant medical and engineering students who decided to take the deadly way out.

"Twelve medical and seven engineering students took their lives last year," an official said, "Many of them were living lavishly on money borrowed from loan sharks."

The city had quiet a few stockbrokers operating in private exchanges taking their lives when the Securities and Exchange Board of India came down heavily on such organisations. And when eight dealers's associations shut down with the investment of its members, 45 brokers overdosed themselves with sleeping pills.

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