Former Haryana Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday said farmers are not benefiting from crop insurance scheme even as the insurance companies are making windfall profits.

The former CM said data shows insurance companies have made a hefty profit of Rs 40,000 Crore in just five years when farmers are constantly facing losses. “To make matters worse, the government has also increased the insurance premium for many crops. The premium amount per acre for paddy has been increased from Rs 713.99 to Rs 749.69, for cotton from Rs 1731.50 to Rs 1819.12, for Bajra from Rs 335.99 to Rs 352.79 and for Maize from Rs 356.99 to Rs 374.85. Every season premium is deducted from the farmer’s account without his consent, but neither the government nor the company would come forward to give compensation,” he said.

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Hooda said the farmer is facing the wrath of nature for the last several cropping seasons, but despite the announcement of the government and crop insurance scheme, the farmers could not get the compensation. “It is once again clear that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is not proving beneficial for the farmers,” the Congress leader said.

He demanded an immediate solution to the problem of water logging in the fields. The Congress leader said farmers in many areas of the state including Kaithal, Hisar, Bhiwani, Ambala, Sirsa, Rohtak, Jind, Sonipat, Kurukshetra, Karnal and Fatehabad have been hit by the problem of water logging.

“Thousands of acres of farmers’ crops have been submerged. More than a week has gone by but the government did not take any steps for draining out the water from the fields. Due to the rains of the last few days, thousands of acres of paddy, cotton and jowar crops have been badly damaged. Heavy rain is forecast in the coming days. In such a situation, farmers fear that this problem may amplify in the coming days,” he said.

Hooda expressed fears that a large part of the farmer’s crop will get waterlogged due to the weather and the neglect of the government, if the situation continues and the government does not take any immediate steps to bring relief to the farmers.

“This will have a major impact on the production of crops including paddy, cotton, sugarcane and jowar. This is going to add to the problems of the farmers who are already facing huge losses,” he said.