Centre orders insurance firm to release payments

Tribune News Service

Deepender Deswal

Hisar, February 1

After a struggle of nearly a month, farmers of 72 villages have got some relief regarding their demand for release of insurance claims for cotton crop damage in the 2022 kharif season as the Centre has directed the insurance firm to release their claims within five days.

The farmers said they would not remove the pucca morcha from the Mini Secretariat until the claims were released to the bank accounts of those affected. They have also given a call to block the national highway on February 8 if their demands were not accepted.

The Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has written a letter to Reliance General Insurance (RGI) to disburse the claim payments within five days. The RGI, which had given insurance cover to cotton farmers in the district, had written a letter to the ministry on September 11, expressing its inability to verify the farmers’ details after the closure of two crop seasons.

The letter by the ministry stated that the state government had shared the requisite details of technology-based sown area of these villages with the firm on January 22. At a meeting on December 29, 2023, the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HARSAC) was directed to show sown areas of the farmers seeking claims to the firm.

About 20,000 farmers of 72 villages are demanding claims worth Rs 146 crore for cotton crop loss in 2022. But the firm withheld the claims due to mismatch of data on the Meri Fasal, Mera Byora (MFMB) portal with the data of the Revenue Department. While the MFMB data showed 30,873 hectare insured under the PMFBY for cotton in these villages, the Revenue Department verified that these villages had 16,554 hectare under cotton.

Sources said the HARSAC report had suggested that there was a cotton crop of 28,444 hectare in these villages. Since, there is not much difference between the data of MFMB portal (30,873 hectare) and HARSAC report (28,444 hectare), the ministry has directed the firm to release the claims.

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