Hummingbird News Desk
BURDWAN, 8 DEC: Farmers living in East Burdwan have not been received any compensation for the last two years against crop loss by the insurance companies while they suffered repeated loss of yield either due to cyclonic storms like Yash, Jawad or sometimes due to the massive pest attacks during the seasons.
In most of the cases, the crop-insurance companies are blamed for their lackadaisical approach to the crisis. The state, after introducing its own Bangla Fasal Bima Yojna had intensified works for bringing maximum farmers under its fold, which too earned positive responses from the cultivators.
But, the lukewarm response by the insurance companies in question of disbursement of compensation at the time when farmers were in dire need for cash however has started raising doubt over the ‘actual’ motive of the companies.
Considering the post Jawad situation, the state Agriculture Minister Shobhondeb Chatterjee yesterday held a meeting with the senior departmental officers from six districts including Burdwan East and the respective officials from the insurance companies aiming to negotiate with the menace.
“What we have gathered that the insurance companies have been told to clear the compensation against crop loss within a month as the farmers in the districts like Burdwan East are forced by the circumstances to face a grim situation,” said Mohammed Ismail, Karmadhyaksha for Agriculture with Burdwan East Zilla Parishad.
“The farmers not disbursed insurance money within 45 days of crop-cutting needs to be paid the principal with interest,” told Jagannath Chatterjee, Additional Director of Agriculture for Burdwan East.
He said: “In our district 6.35 lakh farmers had opted for crop insurance.” In Burdwan East, 3.26 lakh farmers faced disastrous crop loss due to catastrophe last season and Rs 62.78 cr crop-compensation money were supposed to be ckeared by the insurance companies. “So far, 28.64 cr could be disbursed by the companies,” an official said.
Prabhat Das, secretary, All India Cultivation Association in Kalna alleged: “Despite repeated appeals, the potato growers in our district are still denied compensation against crop loss suffered in 2019-20 year by the insurance companies. It’s unfortunate that the district authorities took no initiative to redress the grievance as yet. In the midst, we faced yet another miserable state of affairs due to Jawad’s cyclonic shower.”
Tags: #EastBurdwan #Farmers #InsuranceCompanies #CropLoss #Jawad #Compensation