Alleging that the private insurance company from which farmers bought the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana had cheated them by not paying the requisite crop insurance, former MLA N.H. Konaraddi of the Janata Dal (Secular) and others have filed a police complaint.
Mr. Konaraddi, accompanied by other members of JD(S) and a few farmers, filed the complaint at Gokul Road Police Station in Hubballi on Saturday.
Speaking to presspersons afterwards, Mr. Konaraddi said that under the Central insurance scheme earlier Bharti Axa Life Insurance had bagged the contract, and subsequently ICICI Lombard General Insurance had bagged the contract.
However the insurance company was cheating farmers by not paying the crop loss compensation as per the policy norms, he alleged.
He claimed that as per a Government order, although November 30 had been declared the deadline for paying the crop insurance premium, the private insurance company representatives were saying that they would give compensation only upto November 20.
This apart, in Dharwad district alone the private insurance companies had collected crores of rupees as crop insurance premium during 2018-19 to 2021. However they had not paid compensation to the farmers of the district, he alleged.
Mr. Konaraddi said that the insurance company representatives were also tell lies and shunning their responsibility. “The company had given advertisement in newspapers giving its representative’s telephone number for any clarification or details. However the person whose phone number was given in the advertisement avoids taking calls and says he is not in Hubballi. When the office is contacted, the representatives do not respond,” he said.
He even alleged that only five out of 100 farmers who had paid the premium were being given compensation and several of them had not been given acknowledgement.
Considering all these issues, the complaint had been filed seeking investigation into the whole issue and justice for the farmers, he said.
JD(S) office-bearers B.B. Gangadharmath, Shivanna Hubballi, Sadiq Haqim, Siddu Teji, and others accompanied him while filing the complaint.
Inspector Jakeer Kalimirchi received the complaint and said further action would be taken.
