Bhubaneswar: Minister, Co-operation, Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak has urged the Government of India to ask insurance companies for settlement of claims under Pradhan Mantri Fasal BimaYojana (PMFBY) for Kharif 2021.
In this regard, Mr.Nayak has written to letter to Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday.
The Minister said State Government is continuing to implement PMFBY since Kharif 2016 even though many of the neighboring States are opting out of the scheme.
In order to augment the scheme implementation process, the State Government on their part has taken several initiatives.
Odisha is the first State to introduce Smart Sampling Technique (SST) for selection of plots for conduct of Crop Cutting Experiments (CCEs) and the second State to integrate the State Land Records Portal with the National crop insurance portal, he said.
The State Government has also conducted Special drive for capturing of CCE data using Mobile app leading to maximum capturing of such data. The State has also constituted District and Block Level Monitoring Committers to oversee program implementation, pointed out Mr.Nayak.
He said the Kharif season of 2021 was fraught by many natural calamities affecting many crops especially Paddy which is the major crop of the State and accounts for nearly 98 per cent of the area insured.
The estimated claim for the said season is about Rs. 1364 crore out of which claims to the tune of Rs.748 crore have been settled, so far, the Minister wrote.
“It has come to the notice of the State Government that in many cases the notified insurance companies have raised objections regarding the conduct of CCE and held up the claims,” he further pointed out.
The objections raised by the insurance companies have been duly complied yet the claims have not been settled which has led to farmers unrest in many places and likely to affect the enrolment process for Kharif 22 which is underway, he said, adding, Government of India has already been moved for appropriate intervention in the matter.
In view of the above facts, Mr.Nayak sought personal attention of Union Minister Mr.Tomar into the matter and issue of suitable directive by the Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, to the insurance companies for settlement of claims at the earliest for safeguarding the interest of the farmers.
