Bargarh: All government offices in Padmapur town of this district were paralysed, Monday, as famers staged a ‘jail bharo’ agitation and locked the offices over non-payment of their crop insurance claims by the insurance companies. Farmers alleged that they have deposited premiums for their crop insurance but the insurance firms are dilly-dallying on releasing their claims despite drought condition.
The administration has failed to come to their rescue when they were struggling to get back their insurance claims after the crop loss.
The farmers alleged that they have repeatedly apprised the district administration and insurance firms but their pleas are yet to be addressed. Peeved at the development, farmers in Padmapur sub-division led by Banchhanidhi Nayak, president of Raj Bodasambar Krushak Sangathan locked up the government offices in the town and staged a ‘jail bharo’ agitation.
They took to the street after their discussion with SP Smit P Parmar ended without any solution, June 11. Works at the Sub-Collector office, tehsil office, the local branch office of State Bank of India (SBI), cooperative bank and all other government offices came to a grinding halt.
Reports said Bargarh district faced drought due to scanty rainfall last year while Padmapur subdivision was worst hit. All the cultivated paddy crops were destroyed by the calamity. The agriculture officials conducted a crop cutting survey and submitted a report to the state government stating that crop loss has occurred in over 72,000 hectare farmlands. The crop loss is around 33 per cent of the total cultivation, the report stated. All the farmers had taken insurance and are eligible for insurance claims or input subsidy.
However, the insurance companies are rejecting their claim applications under various pretexts. The agitated protestors accused the district administration of neglecting the farmers who are prone to the vagaries of nature by not taking steps to ensure proper implementation of the insurance schemes. They demanded that the administration explain to the farmers the reasons for not ensuring crop insurance schemes, which could have prevented many farmers from suffering huge losses. The angry farmers said that there was no use of such insurance schemes that do not help them during their worst times.