Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 4: Former Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, Bali Bhagat has raised serious concern over non-implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fassal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) in majority of districts across the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir.
In a statement issued to the media here, today, the former Minister said that Union Government initiated a slew of measures for the welfare of farming community with the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi releasing 10th instalment of PM-Kisan fund on the New Year 2022.
Welcoming such measures, Bali Bhagat said that an amount of over Rs. 20,000 crore was transferred to more than 10 crore beneficiary farmer families under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN).
The senior BJP leader said that it is astonishing to find that this much talked about Pradhan Mantri Fassal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY) specially formulated for the welfare of farmers continues to be far from implementation in the major parts of this Union Territory till date despite the farmers here having been victims of crop loss on account of weather vagaries. He said that out of 20 districts of the UT, the scheme has only been implemented in four districts i.e, three in Jammu region and one in Kashmir valley while no efforts have been made in implementing the scheme in rest of the 16 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Bhagat lamented that out of four districts where the scheme has been launched by the Government, no insurance cover for Kharif crop damage has been paid to farmers which were destroyed in hailstorm on October 30 last year especially in Jammu and Samba districts which witnessed almost 80 percent Kharif crop of Basmati perished by the hailstorm.
Bali Bhagat made a fervent appeal to the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha to immediately take necessary steps in order to ensure that the benefits of Centrally sponsored schemes are provided to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in general and famers in particular especially under the Pradhan Mantri Fassal Bhima Yojana. He also urged the Lt Governor to ensure the release of insurance claims under the scheme to the farmers who suffered heavy loss of their Kharif crop in the hail storm.
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