Chennai: Tamil Nadu Government on Tuesday warned officials concerned of strict action if it found any discrepancies in the implementation of Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance scheme, after Deccan Chronicle published a report on Tuesday by the Centre for Science and Environment that blamed the administration for not creating awareness on the scheme.
Cooperation minister Sellur K Raja said insurance companies have released Rs 1,453.58 crore as claims to farmers in Tamil Nadu as on July 19 due to loses suffered by them during the Kharif and Rabi seasons of harvest in 2016-2017.
“Claims under the Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance scheme are being released to farmers directly into their bank accounts. As on July 19, Rs 1,453.58 crore have been released as compensation,” Mr Raju said in an official statement.
He also instructed agricultural co-operative banks to prominently display the names of the beneficiaries of the crop insurance scheme on their notice boards. “Moreover, flying squads under the leadership of sub-registrar should conduct periodic reviews about the insurance scheme. If any discrepancies are found in implementation of the scheme, strict action will be taken against concerned,” the minister said in the statement.
Mr Raju’s statement came on the day report by the CSE appeared in Deccan Chronicle. The CSE report slammed the administration in handling the drought and accused it of not even issuing notification to farmers for insuring their crops that have now dithered.
The report by CSE on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme) had also singled out Tamil Nadu for “keeping quiet” and “doing nothing” to create awareness among farmers about the insurance scheme, highly subsidized by the government.
Sources said the report spoke only about the Kharif season and not the Rabi season, during which the state government enrolled several lakh farmers into the scheme. “The notification was issued only during the last week of September, just weeks before the Kharif season ended. But we have enrolled record number of farmers in the Rabi season and we have also got them compensation,” the sources said.
