There is no Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) cover on cards for the third consecutive crop season in cluster 2 comprising Ambala, Karnal, Sonepat, Hisar, Jind, Mahendragarh and Gurugram districts. The reason: No insurance firm has come forward to implement the scheme in this cluster.

The scheme is already in force in 15 districts of clusters 1 and 3. Cluster 1 comprises Panchkula, Faridabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Sirsa, Bhiwani and Rewari districts, while Yamunanagar, Panipat, Palwal, Rohtak, Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Mewat and Charkhi Dadri are in cluster 3.

In cluster 2, the farmers were left to fend for themselves even during the kharif-2023 and rabi-2024 seasons as the crops were not insured under the PMFBY there. The farmers have been agitating in Hisar for about a year now, demanding the release of compensation for the cotton crop failure last year even as the insurance firm had refused to implement the scheme in these districts.

In Hisar, about two lakh farmers have sown cotton, paddy, millets and guar on nearly 3.18 lakh acres. They said though the state government and the Centre claimed to have introduced the PMFBY in the state in 2016, they were yet get proper insurance cover under the scheme.

Anil Sharma, a farmer from Kirtan village in the Adampur region, said he had sown cotton on eight acres this year. “But I have been unable to get insurance cover for my crop this year again. The insurance firm had refused to provide cover for the kharif crop last year too. It returned the premium paid by the farmers for the insurance cover. I suffered loss due to pink bollworm attack on cotton crop last year,” he said adding that it was the duty of the state government to implement the scheme.

Rajbir Singh, Deputy Director of Agriculture Department, Hisar said no insurance firm had come forward to implement the scheme in cluster 2.

Source - the Tribune