Nagpur: After payments under the prime minister crop insurance scheme were delayed by over three months, the state government has cleared as much as 80% of the claims till last week. Another 11.03 lakh farmers are awaiting insurance claims. The insurance scheme was launched under the BJP regime two years ago and this is the biggest ever claim payout so far. Of the 82 lakh farmers having gone for the insurance, 45 lakh are eligible for a compensation of over Rs2,300 crore. There has been a high number of claims because of a major loss due to pink bollworm attack on the cotton crop and sucking pest on paddy. The latter is mainly grown in east Vidarbha. Of the Rs2,300 crore dues, over Rs1,800 crore have been cleared so far. This relates to nearly 34 lakh accounts of farmers. With another 11.03 lakh accounts remaining, the state agriculture department is hoping to clear the dues in a week. In normal course, the amount should have been paid during March-April but the process got delayed. Chief minister Devandra Fadnavis had convened a meeting of officials of insurance companies and expressed displeasure over the delay. A special drive was undertaken to clear the dues. TOI had reported the matter on June 6. At that time, over 33 lakh farmers were awaiting payment to the tune of Rs1,600 crore. According to the figures compiled the by agriculture department, another Rs1,882.68 crore have been paid to 33.97 lakh accounts. Another 11.03 lakh have to be paid an amount of Rs418 crore. Most of the work has been cleared an the remaining amount will be paid soon, sources said. The delay was because this year, a system of direct benefit transfer was put in place and the insurance companies faced hassles in its implementation. The insurance scheme is linked with crop loans, and district central cooperative banks (DCCBs) are major players in this segment. The cooperatives have a four-digit account number as compared to 16-digit number in other banks. The insurance companies took time to validate the details of accounts with cooperatives for online payment, sources said. After heavy losses on account of bollworm and sucking pest, the state government came up with a compensation package which included the insurance component, and grants from national disaster relief fund (NDRF). For cotton growers, it also included a penalty extracted from seed companies which are being held responsible for failure of Bt cotton seeds against bollworm. The proceedings against seed companies have been completed in relation to 4.5 lakh complaints filed by the farmers. The complaints have been filed against 54 seed companies and a decision is awaited. The proceedings for as many as 8 lakh complaints remain to be completed, said an official. The state had received nearly 12 lakh complaints by farmers against seed companies. Source - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com