Ramanathapuram
Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has said the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited has offered to provide crop insurance to all farmers in the district, who had lost their crops to drought in the year 2017-18 and the amount will be credited to their bank accounts within a week.
Addressing an election rally in support of AIADMK-backed BJP candidate Nainar Nagendran here on Monday, Mr Panneerselvam said the insurance company had already paid crop insurance of ₹174.06 crore to farmers from 200 villages and assured to pay ₹ 281.62 crore to the remaining farmers from 179 villages.
The announcement came as a huge relief to the farmers, who had been fighting for the compensation for more than six months after the insurance company refused to offer full compensation.
Farmers, who had insured their crops under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) demanded full compensation stating that they had suffered 100% crop loss after the failure of northeast monsoon.
Officials said a total of 1.53 lakh farmers had insured their paddy and other crops raised on 1.25 lakh hectares in the year 2017-18 with the insurance company. The announcement would not amount to violation of model code of conduct for the April 18 elections as this was an ongoing process and the compensation pertained to 2017-18, officials said.
