Bhubaneswar: Odisha government and the Centre Tuesday announced measures to resolve the agrarian crisis in the state in the midst of the intensified stir by farmers demanding payment of crop insurance claims and input subsidy.
The announcements were made a day after the farmers prevented BJP candidate Pradip Purohit from filing his nomination for the December 5 Padampur bypoll.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced input assistance for drought-hit areas of Odisha. ” About Rs 200 crore will be spent from the state exchequer to support the distressed farmers,” a release issued by the chief minister’s office said.
The announcement of central relief was made by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar though a social media post.
“A decision in this regard has been taken by the technical advisory committee constituted by the Government of India and the insurance companies. The state government have also been instructed to issue claims with immediate effect. The central government is committed to clear the claims of farmers at the earliest,” he said in a twitter post.
Tomar said that he had a discussion with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan regarding the insurance claims made in Jharbandha, Padampur and Paikmal blocks of Bargarh district of Odisha.
Officials said that about 2,63,560 hectares of cropland in 64 blocks and 15 urban local bodies of 12 districts in Odisha have suffered crop loss of 33 per cent and above due to drought.
“So far, many of the affected farmers have not yet received their crop insurance dues despite continuous follow-up and pursuance by the state government with the technical advisory committee under the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare, Government of India,” the CMO release said.
The chief minister, it said, has decided to provide assistance out of the state’s own resources after considering the gravity of the situation, demands of the affected farmers and crop loss reports by the collectors.
Steps will be taken for immediate disbursement of assistance after collectors of affected district submit the requirement of funds to the special relief commissioner, the release added.
The farmers had also announced that they will request all candidates of the political parties not to submit their nomination papers for the by-election. Purohit had returned from the returning officer’s office without filing his nomination on Monday.
Reacting to Tomar’s statement, BJD spokesperson Sasmit Patra said that it is clear from the central agriculture minister’s tweet that the pending Fasal Bima of farmers in Bargarh district, specially Padmapur, were pending with the Centre.
He urged Tomar to clear pending crop insurance claims of all farmers of Odisha and not only for the cultivators of the poll bound Padampur.
“Farmers across Odisha are suffering for long … Now you (Centre) are asking insurance companies to pay,” he said and blamed the Centre for the delay in the payment of insurance claims to farmers.
“You (Tomar) are aware that payment is cleared by the Centre and the insurance companies pay. The state does not have any role. Would have been better if the Centre had taken this decision earlier. Thousands of farmers of Bargarh and Padampur would not have had to suffer for so long,” Patra posted on the social media.
Senior BJD leader Prasanna Acharya, who is in charge of Padampur election management of the ruling BJD, described the Centre’s announcement to clear the insurance claim as a “drama”.
“The Centre should take steps to resolve the issue since the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMBFY) is a central scheme. When the insurance company approached the state government, the technical advisory committee headed by Odisha’s agriculture production commissioner had given its verdict in favour of the farmers,” he said.
Acharya said the farmers’ claims could not be settled for months as the insurance company had moved the central advisory committee in the agriculture ministry against the order of the state government and the appeal is pending for the last six months.
PTI
