Jaipur : the condition of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is getting worse instead of improving. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2016 had raised the hope among farmers that they will get a fair claim for crop loss, but due to the arbitrariness of insurance companies and the indifference of senior officials, neither the rules of the notification are followed nor the farmers get a fair claim. Last year, the government got the crops insured in Nagaur by forming a government insurance company Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited instead of private insurance companies, but the condition of this company is worse than the private ones. Neither the farmers are given any information on time nor the proper claim is being given for crop loss. The farmers whose crops were damaged, gave information on the toll free number and also got the damage surveyed, but they have not been given the claim till date. In such a situation, farmers from all over the district are reaching the Agriculture Department and Collectorate every day and giving memorandum to the officials.
Let us tell you that in Kharif 2023, a total of one lakh, 66 thousand, 668 farmers had got 5 lakh 67 thousand 786 insured under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in the district. Under this, 4.16 lakh hectares of land in the district was insured and in return the company collected Rs 168.20 crore as premium amount. In this, a premium of Rs 37.22 crore was paid by the farmers, while Rs 65.49 crore was paid by the state government and the same amount was paid by the central government.
In the district, there was a lot of crop damage in Kharif 2023 due to unseasonal rains and drought in some places. Despite this, the company has decided to pay a claim of Rs 129.18 crore on only one lakh, 38 thousand 804 applications out of 5 lakh 67 thousand 786 applications, while many claims were rejected by raising various types of objections. According to information received from sources, the company has lodged false objections on about 642 crop cuttings in the district with the intention of not giving the claim. According to the company personnel, a total of Rs 122.20 lakh has been paid to 48,439 farmers in the district so far. That is, the claim being given is less than the premium collected.
As per the rules, the insurance company has to open offices at the district headquarters and tehsil headquarters to provide information to the farmers, but the Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited has not opened offices at the tehsil headquarters even once. The district headquarters office has also been opened in the computer room of the Agriculture Department, where the company’s personnel do not sit regularly, due to which the farmers are troubled. Also, the officials of the Agriculture Department have to answer to the farmers, due to which their departmental work gets affected. The special thing is that the insurance company neither pays the office rent to the Agriculture Department nor the electricity-water bill.
The working style of the employees of the insurance company is not good
The personnel of the crop insurance company do not sit in the office regularly, due to which we have to answer to the farmers who come here, whereas the work is related to the insurance company, so we do not have complete information. I have told the company officials about this many times, but their working style is not improving. There is a continuous queue of farmers here throughout the day regarding insurance claims. Due to this we are not able to do departmental work.
