More than 900 farmers have been struggling to get compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana (PMFBY) for the crop loss due to waterlogging for the past several months.

As many as 372 among them are the ones who have been making rounds of the local office of the Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Department for the past over one year but to no avail.

“I suffered a huge loss due to waterlogging last year and submitted the application for compensation under the PMFBY. A survey was conducted but the compensation has not yet been awarded,” said Rajvir, a distressed farmer from Mahendragarh.

Similar is the situation with other farmers — Mahender Singh of Akbarpur Nangal, Jitender of Ateli and Billu of Bachhod village in the district. They said they were now tired of making rounds of government offices. “The insurance company should release the compensation at the earliest.”

Meanwhile, Pankaj, statistical assistant, said initially, the insurance company had rejected the compensation of more than 1,500 farmers who suffered crop loss during the rabi (2020-21) and kharif (2021) seasons due to waterlogging.

“The company had said the farmers are not insured under the PMFBY. However, we verified the cases on our own and sent a report with proof to the insurance company, which later reinitiated the process to award the compensation. Around 600 farmers have already been given the compensation,” he added.

Pankaj further said that the cases of 900 other farmers had also been resent to the insurance company, which had assured of disbursing the compensation at the earliest.

All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) district secretary Sumit Kumar, however, said that despite repeated protests to attract the attention of the higher authorities towards the issue, a considerable number of farmers were still awaiting compensation for the loss to the kharif crops in Rohtak, Jhajjar, Rewari and Mahendragarh districts.

“The state government should ensure the early disbursement of the compensation among the farmers, otherwise we will be compelled to launch a statewide agitation,” the AIKS district secretary added.

Source - https://www.tribuneindia.com