Mumbai: The Maharashtra government Monday said it will step up its vigilance mechanism to ensure fast redressal of grievances regarding drought mitigation. There will be tehsil level committees of officials which will take care of crop insurance payments to farmers, the government said.
Agriculture minister Anil Bonde, while replying to the debate on drought and agrarian crisis over the last three days in the Assembly, admitted the state government had received a lot of complaints. Legislators cutting across party lines complained about poor compensation paid by the crop insurance companies, Jalyukt Shivar's failure to store water, complaints about the farm loan waiver among others. "It is true right from the agents, company officials to agricultural officers are not available for farmers when it comes to the paybacks of the crop insurance. Farmers do not get response from toll free numbers. This has led to unrest against crop insurance companies among the farmers," he said.
"The government will keep strict vigilance through tehsil and district level committees to ensure officials are available for farmers," he said. The minister said the state government would recommend changes in the parameters for the compensation payment. "It is true the system of indemnity fixation needs to be changed to ensure better payout to the farmers. Since it is a Central scheme, we will have to request the Centre for changes in policy," he said. Bonde also said action has been initiated against banks and insurance companies which did not complete the process of depositing money in the accounts of farmers.
He said the amount will be paid with 12 per cent interest recovered from banks and insurance companies. Cooperation minister Subhash Deshmukh said 1600 cattle camps are in operation, sheltering more than 10.72 lakh animals. Energy minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule told the House the outstanding on the agricultural pump connection has risen to Rs 30,198 crore. "The outstanding from electricity consumers in various categories is Rs 48,540 crore, of which the highest is from farmers. As a policy decision, we have not disconnected their connections during the drought," he said.
