BHUBANESWAR: Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday requested his cabinet colleague and Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar for a probe into the functioning of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) in Odisha and the conduct of the private insurance companies empanelled under the scheme especially Bargarh district.
Pradhan who met Tomar on Tuesday over inordinate delay in settlement of crop insurance claims of farmers of Bargarh district and succeeded in getting relief for the farmers again met the Union Agriculture minister and made him aware of the grievances of farmers’ groups of the district over alleged harassment at the hands of HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company.
Submitting a written letter to Tomar, Pradhan said the private insurance company has been entrusted with the responsibility of crop insurance under PMFBY by the state government for Paikamal, Jharbandh, Padmapur, Gaisilat, Sohela and Bijepur blocks of Bargarh district.
He said the company has paid abysmally low insurance sum against the crop loss due to drought during kharif 2021 season. The low payment of insured sums is the outcome of faulty crop cutting experiments (CCE) data provided by the state government officials and manipulation of yield data by the insurance company.
“The petitioners have alleged that these private insurance companies have manipulated the crop cutting experiment data in collusion with state government officials resulting in lower-than-expected insurance pay out. The ineffectiveness of the local administration and cunning tactics of the HDFC Ergo is derailing the implementation of PMFBY in Bargarh district,” the letter said.
Enclosing a copy of GP wise pay out against expected claim of farmers with the letter, Pradhan said, “ I request you to investigate this matter at your personal level and order a proper investigation towards the functioning of PMFBY and alleged malpractices by the officials of Government of Odisha during CCEs and conduct of private insurance companies empanelled in PMFBY scheme in the state, especially in Bargarh district.”