District Collector S.Suresh Kumar has expressed dissatisfaction over the complacent attitude of officers of National Insurance Company (NIC) and Oriental Insurance Company (OIC) in paying compensation to the chilli farmers who incurred a loss of Rs 60 crore due to fire accidents in three cold storages (Vengamamba, Nandini, and Sai Surya) last year and ordered that urgent steps should be taken to settle the dues in full.
He promised to get the matter expedited by talking to top officials of NIC and OIC and wanted copies of the correspondence made by the insurers to be submitted by Tuesday evening for pursuing the case.
Addressing a review meeting on Monday, Mr. Suresh Kumar said the insurance companies have apparently not educated the farmers and cold storage owners before issuing the policies and receiving premiums and delayed the payment of compensation on technical grounds, some of which could be justified but not explained before the accidents took place and claims made.
As a consequence, the farmers had their doubts and it was the responsibility of the insurance companies to make the nitty-gritties of insurance clear, he said.
NIC owed Rs 43 crore (Vengamamba Rs 30 crore and Nandini Rs 13 crore) and Oriental Insurance Company Rs 17 crore (Sai Surya cold storage).
Mr. Suresh Kumar expressed regret that the NIC was undecided about its liability 15 months after the accidents took place whereas it normally requires three months to settle a claim subject to the availability of survey reports and documents submitted by the claimants. He expected the issues pertaining to Vengamamba cold storage to be sorted out at least by this month end.
Former MP Yalamanchili Sivaji said the delay in payment of compensation was largely attributed to the lack of a proper regulatory authority for cold storages and negligence of the insurance companies to some extent. It appeared to him that the insurance companies were bent on driving the farmers to court to avoid payment of full dues, he said.
TDP State secretary Mannava Subba Rao and CPI district secretary Muppalla Nageswara Rao said the farmers could not wait any longer to mitigate the loss. Even if compensation was paid in a day or two, it would be sufficient to pay interest on loans taken by them to raise chilli crop last year, when a steep fall in prices dealt a double blow, he said.
Joint Collector N. Yuvaraj, and RDO S. Dhilli Rao were among those present.
