Shiv Sena has launched a fresh salvo against the lapses in the PM crop insurance scheme implemented in Maharashtra. After its morcha on July 18 to protest against the functioning of insurance companies in Mumbai, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said although 10 lakh farmers have received compensation from insurance companies due to its follow up while nearly 90 lakhs have been disqualified. Thackeray questioned the categorisation of 90 lakh farmers in the state as ineligible for the Prime Minister's Crop Insurance Scheme and impugned the parameters used to declare them so. ''How can 90 lakh Maharashtra farmers be ineligible for PM crop insurance,'' asked Thackeray. He claimed that after the Shiv Sena raised concerns over improper disbursal of insurance compensation to farmers, companies disbursed Rs 960 crore to 10 lakh peasants. "After 90 lakh farmers were categorised as ineligible, around Rs 2,000 crore, which was to be disbursed to farmers, is still lying with the insurance companies," Thackeray said. "Who decided that the farmers are not eligible? What were the parameters?" asked Thackeray. Thackeray told reporters here that under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), farmers pay 2 percent of the premium amount, while 98 percent is paid by the government. Shiv Sena chief insisted that farmers must be given crop insurance compensation. In case that does not happen, the government must take back the money paid to insurance companies and distribute it to the farmers through its own mechanism, he added. He warned that the Shiv Sena will again stage protests in case farmers did not get compensation.

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