Farmer Says Got ₹2.30 Instead Of 1.5 Lakh As Crop Loss Aid, Official Replies

A farmer in Maharashtra was shocked after his bank account was credited with only Rs 2.30 as the government's alleged compensation for crop loss caused by unseasonal rainfall.

Officials, however, called the transaction a technical glitch and claimed the money was a left over from an old claim that the man earlier sought after facing a similar loss in 2023. 

Madhukar Baburao Patil, a resident of Shilottar village in Wada taluk of Palghar district, is eligible to obtain Rs 1,53,110 for 2.51 hectares of land that he owns in the village, a receipt showing the payment of premium under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, issued by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare on July 16, showed. 

The receipt also showed the farmer paid a premium of Rs 1,148.32 this year. 

However, a message received by Patil on Friday showed only Rs 2.30 was credited to his bank account. 

"Continuous rains this season severely affected the paddy harvest, leaving the crop waterlogged and rotten. Even the straw turned black, worsening the crisis by creating a fodder shortage for livestock," Patil, who has around six to seven acres of land in his name and that of his wife and daughters, said.

"Our crop is gone. We have no one to support us now. Despite the scale of damage, I was shocked to find a paltry Rs 2.30 credited to my bank account," he added. 

Palghar district agriculture officer Nilesh Bhageshwar, however, called it a technical glitch. 

"We received information about this. We investigated it at the state level, and found that the amount credited to the farmer in question was the total amount of their insurance premium. He was supposed to receive a total compensation of Rs 72,466 as crop insurance for loss of paddy in Kharif season 2023. At that time (in May 2024), he already received Rs 72,464. Due to some technical glitch, he received ₹2.30 paise on October 31 this year," he said.

"We have shared this information with the farmer. Our regional team visited them and explained the entire information to them. We are also going to take a written assurance from them that there are no complaints in this regard. We will also share this information with the media," he added. 

Patil's plight found a mention at Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray's press conference in Mumbai on Monday."

It is a joke that farmers in Palghar have received only Rs 2 and a few paise as crop insurance compensation," he said.

State farmers are struggling and seeking compensation for losses caused due to unseasonal rainfall.