Insurance firms reject 44% crop loss claims

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, January 17

More than 44 per cent claim applications filed by farmers across the state to get compensation under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for their kharif crops damaged due to waterlogging have been rejected by insurance companies.

A total of 3,229 of the 7,224 claim applications submitted by farmers across the state have been rejected. Sirsa district leads with 469 rejected applications, followed by Bhiwani and Hisar with 468 and 445, respectively. The figure is 287 in Rewari, 235 in Jhajjar, 215 in Yamunanagar, 202 in Fatehabad, 172 in Rohtak, 144 in Palwal and 117 in Kaithal.

“A total of 577 farmers in Sirsa, 1,002 in Bhiwani and 1,460 in Hisar had filed claims to get compensation under the PMFBY. Insurance claims for Rs 28.87 lakh in Sirsa, Rs 1.52 crore in Bhiwani and Rs 1.79 crore in Hisar had been decided,” said sources.

Similarly, 378 farmers had submitted claim applications in Rewari, 1,074 in Jhajjar, 340 in Yamunanagar, 291 in Fatehabad, 343 in Rohtak, 154 in Palwal, 123 in Kaithal, 117 in Mewat and 156 in Kurukshetra. Of these, 287 applications had been rejected in Rewari, 235 in Jhajjar, 215 in Yamunanagar, 202 in Fatehabad, 172 in Rohtak, 144 in Palwal, 117 in Kaithal, 112 in Mewat and 109 in Kurukshetra.

Insurance claims for Rs 10.42 lakh had been decided for Rewari. The figure was Rs 2.92 crore in Jhajjar, Rs 46.3 lakh in Yamunanagar, Rs 21.82 lakh in Fatehabad, Rs 86.24 lakh in Rohtak, Rs 88,000 in Palwal, Rs 50,000 in Kaithal, Rs 1.69 lakh in Mewat and Rs 19.82 lakh in Kurukshetra.

Dharam Sharma, consultant for crop insurance to the Haryana Government, said rejected claim applications would be scrutinised and insurance companies asked to disclose the grounds under which these had been rejected.

“We will enquire the basis used by companies to calculate the insurance amount,” he said. Many farmers whose crops were not insured had filed claims, he pointed out. The compensation for yield loss was being calculated on the basis of crop-cutting experiments and would be declared soon, he added.