Rs 309 crore distributed to MP farmers for crop insurance

Bhopal, Mar 17 (UNI) Madhya Pradesh Cooperative Minister Gopal Bhargava today informed the State Assembly that Rs 309 crore has been distributed to farmers under the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme this year.

Replying to supplementary questions by Mr Narayan Tripathi (Samajwadi Party) during the Question Hour, Mr Bhargava said a premium of Rs 211 crore has been provided to the concerned insurance company.

However, he assured that if the member who raised the question provided a specific complaint, he would get the matter inquired within a week.

Earlier, Mr Tripathi alleged that cooperative committees collected premium amount from the farmers but did not deposit it into the accounts of concerned insurance company.

Replying to supplementary questions by Ms Usha Thakur, Mr Bhargava said alleged irregularities in granting permission for selling more than 20 acre land to Indore-based Amardeep Housing Cooperative Society would be probed within a week.

Responding to supplementary queries by former education minister Indrajeet Kumar, Mr Bhargava said peasants were not coming to banks to deposit their installments after the government announced waiving of their loans. Meanwhile, cooperative banks had also postponed recovery of debts.

He told Girijashankar Sharma (BJP) that a special audit of primary agricultural societies in Hoshangabad district would be carried out in view of alleged irregularities in the audit. Stern action would be taken against guilty.

Admitting that irregularities to the tune of Rs 79 lakh had been unearthed in Rampur agriculture society, he said irregularities-related complaints had been submitted to police.

When Mr Hakam Singh Chadhar raised the matter of irregularities being carried out in selling of land by Indore-based Devi Ahilya Shramik Kaamgar Cooperative Society, Mr Bhargava said investigation would be carried out within 15 days by sending officer from the state capital.

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