Nexus depriivng farmers of crop insurance: MLA

The state government has decided to look into the allegations of an unholy nexus between PDOs in Gram Panchayats and insurance companies, which is depriving farmers of crop insurance in drought-hit areas. The issue was raised by Arasikere MLA Mr K M Shivalinge Gowda during question hour, who wondered how insurance companies could deny crop insurance to farmers in five panchayats in his constituency, when the entire taluk was affected by drought. “The PDOs and Insurance company representatives  go to the fields which use borewell water to grow crop and record them.

That analogy will be applied to the entire panchayat and the farmers are denied crop insurance. This has been happening for a couple of years and now, farmers do not want to get into crop insurance,'' he said. Mr Gowda was supported by other members like Mr Araga Jnanendra and Mr C.N. Balakrishna. They charged that the total amount of insurance premium paid by farmers was Rs 120 crore in the entire state while the amount reimbursed was only Rs 20 crore.