State sets target to cover about five lakh farmers in South 24-Parganas district under 'Bangla Shasya Bima'

KOLKATA: The South 24-Parganas district administration on Thursday flagged off a tableau from the office of the District Magistrate in Alipore for generating awareness on Bangla Shasya Bima (Crop Insurance) scheme initiated by the state government. The tableau flagged off by District Magistrate Sumit Gupta will be travelling to every nook and corner of the blocks in the district so that more farmers enroll themselves under the scheme.

"There is a time frame for application in connection with the crop insurance scheme. But there have been instances when farmers have not applied during that specific time frame. The application window has been opened from July 1 and will continue till August 31,"a senior official of the district said.The district has set a target of covering 5 lakh farmers under the scheme. In the last financial year, 1.63 lakh farmers availed Bangla Shasya Bima in the district and the total amount disbursed was Rs 66.53 lakh. The state Agriculture department has an agreement with Agriculture Insurance Company of India Limited (AIC) through which the insurance claim is disbursed. The insurance is provided on the basis of remote sensing satellite data acquisition technology of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) that was introduced from the Kharif season in 2020.

A joint inspection is carried out by officials of Agriculture department and AIC after the satellite imaging and accordingly the insurance amount will be disbursed.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had introduced the Bangla Shasya Bima to help farmers get their yield insured in case of damage due to natural calamities. The government pays the entire premium on behalf of every beneficiary under the scheme.

Farmers in Bengal get compensation for rabi crops if paddy and maize cultivation is damaged while they get the same for 12 crops of

kharif cultivation.