Cong alleges Rs 30k crore scam in crop insurance

Gandhinagar: The Gujarat Congress has alleged that the BJP-led Gujarat government and insurance companies have carried out a scam worth about Rs 30,000 crore in crop insurance schemes in the state.

Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda, Gujarat Congress Kisan Morcha leaders Rutvij Makwana and Pal Ambaliya and party spokesman Jayrajsinh Parmar organized a press conference and presented data claimed as official data of crop cutting reports for two villages, where 91% crop failure was reported but only 1.48% insurance payouts were made.

“The BJP government was not sharing crop cutting and crop damage survey data, claiming that making such information public would create a national security risk. We don’t understand how details of farmer’s crop damage can be a national security issue,” said Chavda. “We have got details of two villages in Mendarada taluka, where crop damage of 91% and 81% was reported in the survey by the state government officer, gram sevak, insurance company official and these details was approved by the government. However, against the reported damage, farmers received just 1.48% of their reported loss,” said Chavda. State agriculture minister R C Faldu termed allegations made by Gujarat Congress as baseless. “The crop damage survey is being done under the government of India’s technical advisory committee guidelines. The Congress is making these allegations out of frustration from losing badly in the panchayat byelections. I challenge the Congress to prove their allegations.”

Source: The Times of India