Made to run from pillar to post

Parveen Arora

Tribune News Service

Karnal, November 15

It has been a long wait for Pawan Rana, Parmod Rana and Sukhbir Rana, all farmers from Raison village, for compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). They had suffered crop losses during kharif season 2017, but are yet to receive their compensation. The delay in the settlement of claims is brewing resentment among the farmers, who are demanding that the state and the Union Government take action against the insurance companies for delaying the payment.

“The premium of my kharif crop was deducted from my account in July and after suffering crop losses, I had applied for compensation, which is around Rs 2 lakh, in September 2017. But due to clerical mistake committed at a bank in Kaithal, I am not receiving compensation. A survey has been conducted by the insurance company along with the department in this regard,” said Pawan Kumar.

He maintained that the bank had changed the name of his village from Raison to Ramba, leading to his and other farmers’ harassment, despite of no fault on their part.

The situation is the same with Sudama, a farmer from Chora village. As per the Agriculture Department report, his crop suffered 70 per cent was damage but no compensation was given to him due to a clerical mistake by the bank.

Taking a serious note of the discrepancy, Aditya Dabas, Deputy Director Agriculture (DDA), has recommended stringent action against the bank manager for causing harassment to the farmers.

Apart from them, 71 farmers of rabi season 2016-17, 95 farmers of kharif season 2017 and 159 farmers of rabi season 2018 are running from pillar to post to get their compensation. The compensation of more than 15,000 farmers of the current season is yet to be settled.

Dabas said they had asked the insurance company to clear the dues of the farmers at the earliest.