The Kalaburgi Zilla Panchayat on Friday recommended the State government to institute a high-level inquiry into the lopsided sanction of crop insurance for the 2014 kharif season, in which more than 95 per cent of the claim amount went to Jewargi taluk, while farmers in other taluks got a pittance.
After a prolonged discussion on the issue in the general body meeting, the zilla panchayat passed a unanimous resolution. Earlier, the meeting witnessed heated discussions on the denial of crop insurance due to farmers in other taluks. The panchayat members said that they suspected some underhand dealings to tilt the balance in favour of Jewargi taluk.
Two members from Afzalpur Siddarth Basirigidath and Prakash Jamadhar marched into the house wearing black bands and created a ruckus demanding that a detailed investigation be instituted on why farmers of other taluks had been denied crop insurance.
They said that farmers in all taluks suffered an equal or more damage during the kharif season last year, but while fixing crop insurance compensation, farmers elsewhere in the district, except in Jewargi, had been ignored.
Sanctioned amounts
Of the Rs. 62.56 crore insurance amount sanctioned for the 2014 kharif season, the Agriculture Insurance Company had approved Rs. 59.50 crore to be distributed to 33,761 farmers. But not one farmer in Afzalpur had been selected for crop insurance. In other taluks too, only a miniscule number of farmers got crop insurance.
The members, cutting across party lines, including those elected from Jewargi taluk, were unanimous in their opinion that injustice had been meted out to farmers in other regions and that an inquiry should be carried out to know the reason for denial of crop insurance.
The meeting was told by officials that the reason for denial of crop insurance to other taluks was the high-yield levels fixed for red gram in the other taluks when compared to Jewargi. While an average yield for red gram crop was fixed at 343 kg per hectare in Jewargi over five years, it was 951 kg per hectare in Afzalpur.
Crop insurance was paid to farmers if the yield is less than 50 per cent of the five-year average yield fixed in the respective taluks, they said.
More than 95 per cent of the claim amount in crop insurance went to Jewargi taluk in 2014
Not a single farmer in Afzalpur taluk received crop insurance money
