Year later, 1,300 farmers yet to get crop loss claims

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 22

Nearly 1,300 farmers who suffered crop losses during kharif season in 2016-17 are yet to receive their compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). According to the Agriculture Department data, a compensation of Rs 3 crore is yet to be disbursed by insurance companies to the beneficiaries even after more than a year. The farmers belong to Sonepat, Sirsa, Rohtak and Hisar district of the state.

According to bankers, since implementation of the PMFBY, the state-level bankers’ committee has been receiving a number of complaints from different parts of the state. “Most of the complaints are related to the difference in the insured area mentioned in the bank records and the insurance companies due to clerical mistakes committed at the bank level. Due to this, the insurance companies have rejected the claims. As the beneficiaries are the same and there is no dispute with regard to the identification of the farmers, their account, crop sown and crop loss, we have failed to understand why these insurance companies are rejecting their claims,” said a senior banker.

Taking cognisance of the matter, the committee has advised the insurance companies namely Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company and Bajaj General Insurance Company Ltd to settle the claims pending for the past more than a one year as soon as possible.

To avoid further confusion, the committee has requested the controlling heads of the banks to sensitise their field functionaries to ensure correct feeding of the data on the PMFBY portal to avoid rejection of claims.

Under the PMFBY, 6,52,468 farmers have been covered by the banks for kharif crops in 2017 and rabi crops in 2017-18. Under the kharif season, the state government has notified four crops, namely cotton, paddy, bajra and maize.

‘Clerical mistakes in data’

Most of the complaints are related to the difference in the insured area mentioned in the bank records and the insurance companies due to clerical mistakes committed at the bank level. Due to this, the insurance companies have rejected the claims. — Senior Banker