Kolkata, Sep 19 — West Bengal now ranks second in the number of farmers enrolled under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari claimed on Saturday.
In a social media statement, the Chief Minister said 32 lakh farmers are covered under this insurance. He added, “The state government is bearing the bulk of the farmers’ premiums from its own budget in the event of floods and natural calamities. Insurance companies have been directed to immediately assess the compensation to the farmers affected by the August floods to ensure speedy payment.”
In his post, the Chief Minister also gave a district-wise breakup.
“Farmers have been registered across the state on September 15. A significant number of farmers have also been registered in flood-hit districts like 7.23 lakh in East Midnapore, 4.73 lakh in West Midnapore, 1.68 lakh in Hooghly, and 42,000 in Jhargram. Names have been registered under PMFBY. Special camps were organised at each village level from August to September 15 to facilitate farmers in flood-hit areas,” he said.
Claiming that the state government is bearing most of the premium, the Chief Minister further explained that farmers have to pay a symbolic fee of just Re 1 for land up to 1 hectare or 2.50 acres.
“Farmers owning 1 to 2 hectares of land have to pay Rs 100 per acre. The state government pays the remaining premium. At the same time, the insurance companies have been asked to immediately conduct a ‘mid-season adversity’ assessment to ensure prompt compensation to farmers affected by the August floods. In addition, the deadline for registration of farmers taking loans through banks has been extended to September 30,” he informed.
In his social media post, Adhikari also launched a scathing attack against the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime for not allowing the implementation of PMFBY in West Bengal.
“In 2019–20, the previous Mamata Banerjee-led government had stopped the registration of farmers under the PMFBY scheme, due to which the farmers of West Bengal were deprived of fair protection for a long time. However, after the BJP government came to power in the state, it reintroduced this crop insurance facility with utmost importance to farmers' interests. Under the new government, the first phase of registration has begun, and the first phase has received an unprecedented response from the farmers,” the Chief Minister added.