Hyderabad, September 30: Chief Minister K Rosaiah urged Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to release the Central share of indemnity to be paid to Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AICI) and see that the crop insurance of the farmers be disbursed as early as possible.
In a letter to Mukherjee Tuesday, the Chief Minister said that the disbursement of the claims was held up as the Centre had not paid its share.
The AICI had approved crop insurance claims to the tune of Rs 801.2 crore of which the State Government’s share was Rs 356 crore, AIC Rs 88 crore and the Centre 356.58 crore.
The erratic monsoon– scanty at the beginning of the 2008 kharif season and excessive at the time of crop maturity –had resulted in serious crop damage and dip in the yield. About 7.57 lakh farmers were entitled to receive insurance indemnity for crops like groundnut, paddy, maize, redgram, soybean, cotton, chilli, sugarcane and turmeric, the Chief Minister said.
Stating that the State Government had already issued orders for release of its share and AIC too was ready with the payment, Rosaiah said settlement of claims was held up for want of Centre’s share of funds.
–Agencies–