Farmers’ plaints fall on deaf ears of insurance companies

Jodhpur: An abrupt shift in climatic conditions in western Rajasthan, which caused moderate to heavy rain and hailstorm in some districts of the desert region recently, has damaged harvested crops mainly groundnut and cotton.

A farmers’ leader said they had been trying to contact the insurance company since the day the weather destroyed their crops, but there was no response from the company. He alleged that the insurance companies mint money in the form of premiums and turn a deaf ear when it comes to registering and giving claims. To claim the loss, the farmers need to inform the insurance company in 72 hours of the disaster on its toll free number or can either write to the agriculture department or the bank in seven days.

“This loss would directly affect the farmers as they would now be left with no alternative than to dispose of their produces at much lower prices than the expected,” a farmers’ leader said. He said if this was the condition in Jodhpur, the accumulated amount of loss in other desert districts would certainly cross Rs 1,000 crore.

Commissioner (agriculture) Om Prakash said the farmers had sustained losses on kharif crop in many districts of the western Rajasthan due to untimely rain and hailstorm. “According to the scheme, the district officials and insurance company officials have been directed to carry out a survey of the affected farmers’ crop loss and submit the report as soon as possible,” said the official.

According to an estimate, groundnut and cotton had been sowed in over 70 hectares and 30 hectares respectively in Jodhpur district alone and almost entire crop has been washed away by the rain. According to this estimate, the loss on the affected crop has been approximated over 400 crore, agriculture officials said.

Source: The Times of India