Farmers from seven Haryana districts are stuck in a dilemma. Following the “Pradhanmantri Fasal Bima Yojana”, the insurance company in these districts, Agriculture Insurance, has paused its crop insurance plans.
The Haryana government has, in light of the firm’s decision, asked the Centre to intervene to resolve the matter and continue providing farmers with crop insurance. If no one solution is agreed upon, the Agriculture Department may take up the provision of insurance to farmers. The districts where Agriculture Insurance has refused to continue include Ambala, Hisar, Gurugram, Jind, Karnal, Mahendragarh and Sonipat. A petition has also been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on this issue.
Meanwhile, the insurance company has made it clear that it is not capable of providing insurance. After the company’s refusal, the Agriculture Department issued orders to the State Level Bankers Committee to return the amount of premium deducted from the bank accounts of the farmers of the districts included in Cluster-2. This landed over two lakh farmers in these districts, who had availed the benefit of the crop insurance scheme, in a dilemma.
As the issue came into the limelight, the government took a U-turn and withdrew its orders issued on Sunday. State Agriculture Minister JP Dalal has said that farmers do not need to worry, assuring them that the government would support them no matter the outcome. The government created three clusters in Haryana for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
Cluster-1 consists of Faridabad, Kaithal, Sirsa, Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Rohtak and Rewari. Cluster-2 includes the contested districts while Cluster-3 includes Yamunanagar, Panipat, Palwal, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Nuh, and Charkhi-Dadri districts. Meanwhile, Congress leader Selja Kumari slammed the government, stating that the farmers are feeling “cheated”.