State to release Rs 197 cr to about 2.46L farmers: CM
Kolkata: The state government is releasing Rs 197 crore to 2.46 lakh affected farmers under Bangla Shasya Bima (BSB) who could not sow paddy due to deficit rainfall.
“We are releasing Rs 197crore to 2.46 lakh affected farmers who could not sow paddy due to deficit rainfall. The claims have been finalised under Bangla Shasya Bima (BSB), which is a fully state government funded crop insurance scheme and we pay the entire premium amount. Farmers are not required to pay anything,” Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote on her Facebook page.
Banerjee further stated that since the inspection of the scheme in 2019, her government has paid more than Rs 2400 crore to 85 lakh farmers. State Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay said that farmers from Bankura, Birbhum, Murshidabad, West Burdwan and Pururlia will get the benefits of the funds under BSB.
Meanwhile, the Agriculture department has set a November dateline for disbursing crop insurance to the affected farmers whose agricultural land got inundated in the recent flash flood that had hit some districts of north and south Bengal. The department has already made a preliminary assessment of the damage on the basis of which a requisition of around Rs 180 crore was sent to the state Disaster Management and Civil Defence department.
The department is coming up with an alternative crop plan so that distribution of seeds to affected districts can be done by November first week. Hybrid mustard, groundnut, boro paddy, sesame, summer maize etc can be an alternative.
Remote sensing, satellite imagery, weather data and ground truthing are used to monitor crop health and claim assessment for BSB. This insurance scheme has ensured timely and faster assessment of crop yield losses using satellite technology which is also validated at farmers’ fields before arriving at the claim amount in a particular gram panchayat/block. Assessment of claims is faster thereby allowing quicker claim settlement for the affected farmers under the scheme.
