Rabi crop of Hisar farmers being ‘insured’ by outsiders

A crop insurance fraud within the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) is being suspected in the region. Land-owning farmers of Kirtan village in Hisar district have complained to the Agriculture Department authorities about their crops being insured by unknown persons, who are not even the residents of Hisar.

Although the farmers have sown wheat and mustard crops on the land, it is the chana (chickpea) crop which is being insured. Suspecting of being defrauded, the farmers have lodged a complaint with the Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA) in Hisar. Sources reveal that the fraudsters seem to have adopted the simple modus operandi of depositing a ‘tenant certificate’ at the Common Service Centre (CSC) or any agency, where they get the crops insured to authenticate that they have taken the land on lease for farming.

Bhup Singh, a farmer who sowed mustard and wheat on his four acres of land, came to know that his land had been insured for ‘chana’ crop. Singh said he did not have a Kisan Credit Card (KCC) and had never got his crops insured in the past. “I am surprised how my land got insured this rabi season,” he said while clarifying that he had himself sown the crop and had not leased out the land to anyone else.

Similarly, another farmer, Suraj Bhan, was taken aback when he went to the CSC to get his seven acres of farmland insured, on which he had grown mustard and wheat. “However, to my surprise, I was told by the CSC operator that my land was already insured for ‘chana’ crop,” he said. Same is the case with another farmer, Rajender, and scores of several others in the village, who have now come to know that someone else had got their crops insured.

Following this, the villagers prepared a list of the agricultural farmland that had been insured by persons who were not the residents of the village or Hisar. “We uploaded the information on the WhatsApp groups to apprise the farmers of the insurance status of their crops,” said a villager, adding that there were around 200 farmers whose land had got insured by persons who were not the residents of the village. “The farmers in our village have not leased out the land to anyone who is not a resident of Hisar,” he said.

DDA Rajbir Singh said he had ordered probe after receiving complaints from the villagers. “The list of the farmers has been forwarded to the insurance firm, which is verifying the data,” he said adding that in case the crops had been wrongly insured, the insurance amount would be refunded. The DDA, however said if the farmer(s) concerned wanted further action, they could approach the police for initiating criminal proceedings.

Notably, there had been a number of frauds, wherein the crops of gullible farmers were insured with their own bank account numbers and mobile numbers at the time of registration. The sources said there had been a large number of frauds under the PMFBY and nearly 100 persons had been booked in Rohnat village of Bhiwani district in this regard.