Palaniswami slams low crop insurance amount sanctioned by Tamil Nadu govt

Chennai: The interim General Secretary of AIADMK, Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) on Monday slammed the low crop insurance amount provided to the farmers 'without properly ascertaining the losses suffered by them'.

The former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu claimed that a paltry amount of Rs 250 was provided per acre as crop losses to many farmers, and even this small sum was not given to many farmers for the financial year 2021-22.

In a statement issued on Monday, EPS said that the officials did not visit the fields and instead assessed the losses while sitting in their offices which is not acceptable.

The AIADMK leader said that he had urged the state government to depute ministers and senior officials to ascertain the losses suffered by the farmers after obtaining on the spot information.

The former Chief Minister lamented that neither the ministers nor the senior bureaucrats visited the fields to study the losses suffered by the farmers.

Palaniswami said that during his regime, farmers were provided a minimum of Rs 7,000 crore as crop loss insurance claims, and called upon the state government to clear the irregularities in ascertaining the losses suffered by the farmers.