Denied insurance, angry farmers lock up bank

Hubballi: Farmers who are yet to get their rabi crop insurance of 2016, on Monday marched to Vijaya Bank in Navalgund and locked it.
Farmers who had paid their insurance premium at the bank, protested and locked it. Speaking to TOI, V S Bellad, a farmer of Navalgund, said that as many as 952 farmers from the taluk had paid their crop insurance premium to Vijaya Bank in 2016. “We all paid around Rs 9.40 lakh premium to the bank for rabi crop insurance. We were supposed to get the insurance amount in 2016-end, but we did not. When we inquired, bank officials told us that the proposal form states that Navalgund farmers are not dependent on rain, but on irrigation. If there is irrigation facility, farmers are not entitled for crop insurance. This is shocking. The bank’s goof up is costing us dear. The bank admitted that its staff made a mistake, and we are suffering for it,” rued Bellad.

Bellad says Rs 6.50 crore insurance amount is to be disbursed to farmers under the rabi crop insurance.

“We will not allow the bank to function till we get our insurance amount. We have been corresponding with the bank since one and a-half- years but we are yet to get a positive response. Left with no option, we locked the bank as a mark of protest,” said Laxman Kannur, another farmer.

The bank did not function smoothly on Monday with the staff having to ask several of its customers to go back home.

When contacted, S Ravi Paul, manager, Vijaya Bank, Navalgund said, “I have already brought this issue to the notice of our head office and we are in touch with Agriculture Insurance Company to resolve this issue. I have tried my best to convince the farmers that it will take time to sort out this problem, but they are not listening. I don’t know what was the mistake committed by the staff as I came here just last year.”