Farmers' agitation hits banking ops in Odisha's Bargarh dist

Banking operations were hit across the western Odisha district of Bargarh today as farmers staged agitations alleging non-payment of insurance claims for crop loss.

Farmers of the district, under the aegis of Krushak Sangathan Samanway Samiti (KSSS), picketed outside the banks during the day.

The protesters also locked the office of an insurance company in Bargarh and staged dharna outside the building alleging that despite coverage under Pradhan Mantri Phasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), they were denied the claims.

The farmers said the whole Bargarh district was affected by drought during the Kharif season in 2017 but the insurance company is yet to disburse the claim to the affected farmers.

 

Though the insurance company had assured that it would disburse the claims by May 31, it failed to do so. The company officials are now telling the farmers that they will disburse the money on June 20, but they are not giving claim report, KSSS President, Jayakrushna Sahu said.

Stating that the insurance company is supposed to pay Rs 733 crore as claims, he said the delay is making farmers apprehensive that they will not get the actual claim amount.

Sahu said the insurance company should show the claim report before it disburses the insurance money to the account of farmers.

As many as 1,02,971 farmers had cultivated paddy in the district by taking loan from banks, while 853 farmers had not taken bank loan during the Kharif season in 2017, he said.

Noting that all the farmers had insured their crop, Sahu said the insurance company had collected Rs 128 crore as premium for insuring the crop, but it is now delaying disbursement.

The farmers withdrew their stir after talks with the officials of district administration.

Bargarh District Collector Indramani Tripathy said the farmers were told during discussion that the insurance money would be disbursed by the insurance company shortly.

Making it clear that the company cannot curtail insurance claim arbitrarily, he said the district witnessed large scale crop loss due to drought in 2017.

Delay in disbursement was caused by some discrepancies in data of some villages and the company officials are sorting out the matter, the Collector said.