Crop Insurance For Odisha Farmers: BJD MP Terms Union Minister’s Letter As ‘Flawed & Faulty’

Bhubaneswar: The blame-game between the BJP and BJD over delay in payment of crop insurance to the farmers of Padampur in Odisha continued on Thursday as the latter termed Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar’s letter in this regard as flawed and faulty and is based on distorted facts and
half-truths.

Soon after Tomar issued the letter to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik stating that the Centre had promptly acted after the matter was first brought up a few months back, BJD MP Sasmit Patra issued a press release countering it.

Patra said the Union Minister’s letter is a well-thought diversionary tactic to shift the attention from the real issues which the Centre wants to hide from the farmers of Padampur and Odisha.

He questioned why Tomar has not mentioned anything about Naveen’s letter to the Union Minister on August 29 demanding that the Centre release the Fasal Bima Funds to the farmers of Odisha. The meeting of Odisha’s Cooperation Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak with the Union Minister on November 9 regarding payment of Fasal Bima Yojana is also not mentioned.

“As per Tomar’s letter, if the orders for payment were passed by the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on November 7, why did he tweet on November 15 claiming that he is now directing insurance companies to pay to the farmers of Padampur and Bargarh? Was not it for optics and only for electoral gains to grab attention in a poll-bound Padampur?” asked Patra.

He further said after regular follow up from Naveen and pressure from the farmers, the Centre was forced to release the Fasal Bima to the farmers. If it could do it now, why not months back, he asked.

Earlier, Tomar in his letter said the responsibility of floating the bids for the implementation of PMFBY, allocating the cluster of districts to the Insurance Companies (ICs) and agreement on premium rates has been vested with the state government as per the norms of the Revamped Operational Guidelines (ROGs).

“A well-defined procedure was also put in place to resolve yield data disputes wherein a state-level TAC was provisioned so that the dispute is first settled at the state level. The case would be brought before the central TAC only in case of non-resolution at the first level,” the letter said.

He also informed that the majority of claims in disputed districts have been settled at the TAC after due follow-up and complete settlement is expected by this week. “Out of nine disputed districts, Rs 723 crores is the total payable claim out of which Rs 622 crores has been settled,” he added.

Also Read: Centre Shifts The Blame On Odisha Govt For Farmers’ Crop Insurance Delay