Taking the Central government to task, Rajya Sabha Member and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader Sasmit Patra on Monday alleged that the farmers in Odisha have been subjected to harassment by the insurance companies over Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
Addressing a presser in Bhubaneswar, Patra said that lakhs of farmers in Odisha have been affected by the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) across the districts of Bargarh, Sambalpur, Sonepur, Deogarh, Bolangir, Nuapada and Kalahandi.
Advancing Central statistical data, Patra said over the past five years, while the farmers have paid Rs 1.26 lakh crores as crop insurance premium across India, they received only Rs 87,320 crore as claims. The insurance companies made Rs. 40,000 Crore of PMFBY money, affecting the interests of the farmers.
Coming back to Odisha, Patra said, “The Odisha Government has paid Rs 3250.48 Crore while farmers in the State have paid Rs 1009.84 Crore to the insurance companies so far. That apart, the Centre has paid its share of Rs 7510.8 Crores till Kharif 2021.”
“Till Kharif last year (2020), the total premium paid to insurance companies was Rs 6163.28 Crore while the sum which the insurance companies paid to the farmers back as claims stood at Rs. 5098.64 Crore. Thus, the Insurance Companies profited to the tunes of Rs 1064.64 Crore, which is 17.27% of the total premium paid,” Patra alleged.
Making further claims, Patra said that between 2018 and 2020, farmers filed crop insurance claims of Rs 2090 Crore but the insurance companies disbursed only 50 percent of those claims, amounting to Rs 1026 Crores. “The farmers of Odisha are facing repeated harassment by the insurance companies relating to the assessment of their claims and payment under PMFBY,” he alleged.
However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Parliamentarian for portraying a ‘biased’ picture of the Fasal Bima scheme. BJP Krishak Morcha President, Pradip Purohit said, “Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones at others.”
“Patra should have provided the complete PMFBY data, from 2014 till 2021. In these seven years, the farmers of Odisha paid a premium of Rs 19,000 Crore and received almost Rs 90,000 Crore as claims. So the BJD should refrain from misleading the voters by presenting half-baked data,” Purohit said.