NASHIK: Thousands of accident claims in the state are awaiting approval as the state government’s agriculture department didn’t appoint an insurance company for the Gopinath Munde Farmers Accident Insurance Scheme for four months. In this regard, the state government should immediately appoint a new insurance company to sanction insurance claims of those specific four months, taking into account the interests of the farmers, or the government should approve special insurance funds and pay accident insurance cover to farmers.
The state government started the Gopinath Munde farmers accident insurance scheme in the name of the late Gopinath Munde in 2016 to provide financial support to the affected families. Depending upon the severity, the insurance companies pay an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh to the farmer concerned. The government pays the sum insured of all the farmers in the state to the designated insurance company every year.
The government-appointed Universal Sompo and Jaika Insurance Company from December 10, 2019 to December 9, 2021. The government-appointed the Universal Sompo insurance company once again from April 7, 2021 to April 6, 2022. However, from December 2021 to March 2021, the government didn’t appoint any company and hasn’t passed any guidelines for the farmers who had an unfortunate incident in these four months.
As a result, the companies are not providing insurance covers to these farmers. The agriculture department has also not received any instructions and therefore is unable to help these farmers. Due to the absence of an insurance company in these four months, thousands of claims are pending. In Nashik district, a total of 145 farmer claims are still pending. The government needs to take immediate action to aid these farmers.
