40 per cent farmers won’t get crop insurance: Ajit Nawale

Nashik: Dr Ajit Nawale, general secretary of Shetkari Sukanu Samiti (steering committee) has alleged that about 40 per cent farmers will not be able to get the benefit of crop insurance scheme in Maharashtra due to the alleged delaying tactics on the part of the state government in accepting the insurance forms.

He told The Asian Age on Monday that, they would raise this issue prominently during the ensuing Chakka Jam (road blockade) on August 14.

Elaborating on the issue, Dr Nawale said that the government did not accept most of the forms till July 25. The Crop Insurance Scheme started from July  1 and the last date was July 21.

He said, “The banks too did not accept many forms citing various reasons, sort of delaying tactics in accepting the premium instalments and till July 25 most of the forms were not filed. Later the Government extended the last date to July 31 to file the form online but asserted that it should be online.”

“It was not possible for common farmers to play the job of IT engineers and file within six days. Secondly, with no proper net connectivity and servers being down continuously, many farmers lost their right. Hence about 40 per cent farmers won't be able to get the benefit of the scheme,” Dr Nawale claimed.

He further alleged that the government and insurance companies  connived to make the filing difficult to avoid filing and depositing the insurance amount.