Bargarh: A terrible mixup in payments of insurance premiums under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has come to the fore in Bargarh district.
Cases of people depositing premiums for the lands that they don’t own are dime a dozen in the district.
Farmers have started depositing PMFBY premiums from July 1 and the process would continue till July 31. Both loanee and non-loanee farmers visit local banks or Sahaj centres with required documents to deposit insurance premiums online at Rs 1,300 per hectare.
At the time of applying, a good number of farmers came to know that some people, claiming their lands as their own, have already deposited the insurance premiums.
The aggrieved farmers took up the issue up with the District Collector and the chief district agriculture officer seeking immediate help.
They alleged that some people are being able to deposit premiums using others’ land records by greasing the palms of unscrupulous staff.
Suresh Sahu, a farmer of Gourenmunda panchayat under Gaisilet block, said, “There are 5.70 acres of land in my father’s name. I visited the nearby Sahaj centre to deposit the insurance premium. But I could deposit premium for 1.66 acres. I was told that someone has already deposited the premiums for the rest of his lands,” alleged Sahu.
Another farmer, Jamlal Sahu, who is also in the same predicament, said, “He has six acres of land in his father’s name. But someone else has already deposited the insurance premiums for the whole of the land by means of forgery.”
Tekamani Sahu and Saheb Sahu of Dhaunrakhaman and Jamlal village respectively have the same allegations to make.
Despite owning 10 acres and 13 acres of land respectively, they could not deposit premiums as their land documents have earlier been used for the same.
It was alleged that the cases of land documents being forged while depositing insurance premiums are being reported not only from Gaisilet block but from rest of the blocks in the district.
PNN