Consumers Affairs Minister Jayesh Radadiya
Civil Supplies and Consumers Affairs Minister Jayesh Radadiya on Monday ordered officers of State Bank of India (SBI) branch in Jetpur town of Rajkot district to shut down after telling them that they were not clearing crop insurance claim dues of farmers. After the warning from the minister, the bank remained closed to public in the evening.
Radadiya, who is a BJP MLA from Jetpur, went to the SBI branch on Junagadh Road of Jetpur Monday afternoon and demanded bank officials to pay crop insurance to farmers who were accompanying him. After the bank officials told them that the crop insurance claims were still being processed, the minister lost his cool and ordered the bank to shut down.
“Aa badhu sankelo kar. Have kai kam nathi tamaru (Wind up all this. You are not required here),” Radadiya is heard in video clips of the incident that were shown on local TV news channels.
After the minister’s visit, the branch remained closed to public in the evening hours.
Radadiya who himself is chairman of Rajkot District Cooperative Bank, said that the SBI branch had failed to clear crop insurance due to farmers for the year 2016-17. “Around 150 farmers had paid their premium for insuring their groundnut crop. But the bank has not cleared their insurance claims even after 10 months. Farmers have paid premium to the bank, which in turn, is supposed to pass it on to the insurance company. Now when the insurance is due to farmers, the bank is not paying them. Either the bank or the insurance company is responsible. Being a representative of the area, it is my duty to make representation on behalf of people,” Radadiya told The Indian Express.
He said that around 150 farmers who had got their crops insured via the SBI branch on Junagadh road were waiting for around Rs 1.75 crore insurance claims. “More importantly, there is another SBI branch in Kanakiya plot area of Jetpur. Farmers who had availed of insurance and loan from that branch have got their insurance due. But the Junagadh branch has been dragging its feet,” the minister added.
Radadiya claimed that around three months ago he had called a meeting of farmers and officers of the Junagadh Road SBI branch. “At that time, the bank officers told me that they had notified the insurance company about the pending calls. When I went to the bank branch, officers gave me the same answer. This cannot go indefinitely,” Radadiya said, adding that farmers of around a dozen villages were waiting for their crop insurance claims.
Ravi Parmar, the manager of the SBI branch, said that no police complaint has been filed against the minister. “I was on leave. I’m returning to Jetpur. But no police complaint has been filed for today’s incident so far,” he said.