'Farmers are looted in the name of crop insurance'

KPCC Kissan unit state president Sachin Meega alleged that farmers are looted in the name of crop insurance. Crop insurance is a conspiracy to help the MNCs to post a profit, he alleged.

He said 10,091 farmers had paid insurance premium of Rs 2.52 crore under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana during the Kharif season of 2017-18. However, only 1,088 farmers have received insurance compensation of Rs 65.06 lakh.

The responsibility of crop insurance was handed over to Bharti AXA General Insurance in the district. Crops on 49,789 hectares were insured.

Meega said that the private insurance company has earned a profit of Rs 1.87 crore under crop insurance in the district.

He said that he will submit a complaint to the vigilance squad along with documents on November 19.

He further said that under the crop insurance scheme, a sum of Rs 20,000 crore has been collected from farmers in the last six months. However, only Rs 5,000 crore was given as compensation to the farmers for the loss of crops. There was illegality to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore in crop insurance schemes in the last three years, he alleged.

He said that the KPCC will demand a CBI probe into the misappropriation in the crop insurance.

Meega said that the chief minister has asked the banks not to forcibly recover loans borrowed by the farmers. In spite of it, the private banks are engaged in serving summons and notices to the farmers. The DC should convene a meeting of bank officials and issue a direction to not recover loans from farmers, he added.