Farmers allege discrepancies in disbursal of relief for crop loss

None of them in Saptur has got it, says President of District Farmers’ Association

October 22, 2017 08:07 am | Updated 08:07 am IST - MADURAI

A large number of farmers in Madurai district have complained of non-payment and discrepancies in disbursal of insurance amount under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for the crop failure in 2016-17.

Speaking at the farmers’ grievance redressal meeting on Friday, M. Pandian, president, Madurai District Farmers’ Association, said that he was receiving complaints from farmers in Saptur and nearby villages that the insurance amount for paddy had not been credited to many.

“I can say for sure that none of the farmers in Saptur had got the amount,” he said.

He alleged that he had not received proper response from the Agriculture Department despite bringing the issue to their notice.

N. Palanichamy, State president, Tamil Nadu Sugarcane Farmers’ Association, alleged that many villages in Madurai North Taluk, including Periyarpatti and nearby villages, were yet to get the insurance amount.

A.N.M. Tirupathi, a farmer from Kulamangalam, alleged that there were differences in the amount dispersed to farmers from closely-located or same villages.

“While some farmers have received around ₹ 7,000 for an acre, some others have received just around ₹ 3,000 even though the loss was the same.

The Agriculture Department or the insurance companies have not given proper explanation for this,” he said.

N. Ramesh, a farmer of Vadipatti, said that a number of farmers, including those who did not take crop loans from Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credit Societies (PACCS), enrolled for PMFBY in 2016 with the hope that they would be compensated for the loss.

“We hardly received insurance claims in the previous schemes. In PMFBY, we were assured that claims will be settled within few months in case of failure, but it has not happened,” he said.

Acknowledging that there were issues in disbursal of the amount, Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao said in the meeting that the district had been largely successful in disbursing the insurance claim amount worth around ₹ 9 crore so far to the farmers.

“The amount has been released only for the samba paddy crop. The insurance companies are yet to settle the claim for other crops,” he said.

Stating that complaints of claim amount of as low as ₹ 400 per acre of paddy had been brought to his notice, he said that he had sought explanation from the insurance companies on the differences.

“It is true that farmers might lose confidence in the scheme if the issues were not sorted. We will ensure that the correct amount is disbursed to all farmers,” he said.

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