Farmers to Protest against Insurance Firms Cheating Them

Farmer Leader Shantanu Naik announced that the farmers of Balangir district, Odisha would stage demonstration before the collectorate from Jan 12 to 16 against the private insurance companies like Chola Mandalam and Royal Sundaram that cover insurance under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana. 

Naik alleged that Chola Mandalam violated guidelines in collusion with the Revenue Inspector, village level workers and other district officials and duped the farmers of their insurance money by fabricating reports on crop loss. The figures of the paddy yield in Binekela, he said, were manipulated from 4.32 quintal to 29.30 quintal resulting in farmers’ failure to claim insurance. 

Farmers of around 50 panchayats have been deprived of crop insurance.

Naik blames the faulty policy of State government and profit motive of private companies for the farmers’ loss. He added that private companies like ICICI, Lombard and IFFCO Tokyo which had insured their crops under Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (WBCIS) have not yet paid compensation amount for the year 2011-12 Kharif season.