AURANGABAD: After putting together data on drought and suicides, Vijaykumar Phad usually changes into warkari attire - white dhoti and kurta, a saffron turban complete with a veena - and heads off to sing kirtans at a village he would have handpicked for its farmer suicide numbers. His sermons are in huge demand - part of it driven by curiosity to hear a senior bureaucrat sing bhajans - and many villages are now on a waiting list.

Phad is deputy divisional commissioner (general administration) and is posted in the Aurangabad divisional commissionerate. The 1995 batch officer has, over the past few months, been using his skill of narrating stories with a moral lesson in the form of kirtans (devotional songs) to wean away farmers from suicidal thoughts.

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His songs celebrate life and encourage people to face every situation as a challenge. His form of counselling is not limited to kirtans alone - he also uses abhangs, bhajans and pravachans.

Phad has started visiting villages in the region during the Pravachan Saptah (weekly sermons) that villagers organise. He visits them either on his weekly off or after finishing work. Phad told TOI, "I am working on my schedule so that I am able to spare more time to counsel farmers. My effort is to make them understand how important life is and committing suicide will not solve any problem but will worsen the situation for the families they leave behind."

Phad's connect with the farmers' plight in this drought year is natural, he said. He hails from Kuntha Khurd, a small village in Latur, Marathwada region, and his parents are still engaged in farming. "Because I come from such a background, farmer-related issues are very close to my heartI have decided to not only contribute professionally, but also personally," he said.

READ ALSO: Maharashtra records half of country's farmer suicide cases

But singing devotional and inspiring songs have been Phad's passion since school, when his grandfather taught him these songs. But professionally he tried it for the first time to recover tax from villagers in 1995 at Biloli in Nanded district. He was still doing his probation then.

Phad has revisited this skill this year, with the suicide toll in Marathwada touching 850 farmers since January. He has covered 25 villages so far. A senior revenue official said farmers were connecting to the exercise and farmer activists said there was a surge in demand for Phad's kirtans. Villages seeking his kirtan are now on a waiting list.

READ ALSO: Farmer suicides show over 50% drop as data collection methodology changes

Shayaji Pawar, a farmer from Paithan taluka said, "People from rural areas are curious to see a senior officer visiting their village, sitting with them, counselling them. The farmers even find an opportunity to speak to him about the problems they are facing at different sections of revenue and agriculture department, and he guides them readily."