Farmers stage protest in Hisar over release of insurance claim

Hisar, December 11

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Farmers of as many as 72 villages staged a protest at the Mini Secretariat here today, demanding the release of insurance claim to about 20,000 farmers whose cotton crop was damaged in the 2022 kharif season.

Activist dies of cardiac arrest

• Farmer activist Anand Singh Sangwan (63) died due to heart failure at a tea shop near the Mini Secretariat
• The activist had sat at the stall after participating in the demonstration, where he developed pain

The farmers, under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, carried out a protest march in the town and later reached the Mini Secretariat. The police had put up a barricade at the outer gate, but the farmers breached it and reached the entrance of the building.

Farmers’ leader Kuldeep Kharar said a claim worth about Rs 147 crore was not being released by the insurance firm. Among the affected villages are Adampur, Badala, Balsamand, Kanwari, Kharak, Pabra, Sulchani and Satrod Kalan. “We will intensify the agitation if the government does not intervene and ensure the release of compensation for crop failure,” he said.

District administration officials said the matter had been taken up with the government and a final decision would be taken by it. “There is a mismatch of data of insured area of the cotton crop under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna and the sown area of the Revenue Department. While the department data showed that these villages had a total area of 16,554 hectare under cotton during kharif 2022, the total cotton crop area, which was insured under the PMFBY, was 30,873 hectare. Thus, the insurance firm raised an objection to the data that how it could be possible that the actual crop area is about 45% less than the insured area,” the official stated.