BARGARH : Miffed over the delay in disbursal of crop loss claims, farmers of Bargarh district have threatened to stage protest from February 13.
The decision was taken following a meeting of the farmers with officials of the district administration and insurance company.
The farmers said Bargarh received unprecedented rainfall on December 5 and 6 last year under the impact of cyclone Michuang. Due to the rains, paddy and vegetable farmers suffered massive crop loss. The affected farmers had demanded immediate assessment of crop damage and disbursal of insurance money. However, a large number of farmers are yet to get the insurance claim amount even after nearly two months.
Farmer leader Ramesh Mahapatra said as per guidelines, crop loss assessment should be done within 10 days and the insurance amount disbursed to farmers within 15 days. However, the assessment is still going on at some places in the district.
Mahapatra further said though the district administration had taken up the matter on priority basis, the disbursal process was delayed due to reshuffling of administrative staff and Dhanuyatra. On Monday, farmers were called for a discussion on the issue but the insurance company showed no interest in expediting the process.
“The company officials said they have received an unexpectedly huge number of applications which are currently being verified. When questioned ab out the delay in field verification, the officials claimed they have already completed drone survey of the crop loss after the rains in December,” he said.
Mahapatra said if the insurance company fails to disburse the crop loss claims within a week, farmers will be forced to launch an agitation from February 13. “We have already informed the officials concerned and the insurance company about our decision.”
Sources informed that at least 58,000 applications have been received for crop insurance. As per the field verification reports, crops over 41,000 hectare of land suffered damage during Michuang. So far, the insurance company has disbursed claims for crop damage over 400 hectare.
While field verification is still underway at any many places, some farmers alleged that the company officials were demanding money to approve their claims.