Chandigarh, April 10 (IANS) Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar on Friday said the state government should announce the implementation of a crop insurance scheme for farmers during the special Vidhan Sabha session scheduled for April 13.
He has also written a letter to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on the issue.
Jakhar said although the government of India has already implemented a crop insurance scheme, the state government has not notified it.
“By doing so, the Chief Minister is committing a major injustice toward farmers.”
He said farmers in Punjab are currently facing severe natural calamities and unseasonal rains and hailstorms have caused large-scale crop damage. Earlier, floods in 2023 and 2025 also led to massive destruction, and even now many farmers have not received compensation because no crop insurance scheme is in place in Punjab.
“Even today, farmers remain worried about how their losses due to such disasters will be compensated,” he said.
He reminded the Chief Minister that three years ago it was announced that the state government would introduce its own agricultural insurance scheme in place of the Central government’s Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.
However, despite three years passing and farmers suffering losses worth thousands of crores, the scheme is still awaited.
Jakhar said since the state government has called a special Assembly session on April 13 the Chief Minister should fulfill his promise and, without delay, announce Punjab’s own crop insurance scheme during this session so that farmers can be compensated during natural disasters.
He further advised that if the state government’s financial condition is weak, it should immediately implement the Central government’s crop insurance scheme, which is already operational in other states and has proven beneficial for farmers.
While speaking to the media here, Jakhar suggested that instead of spending heavily on advertisements, the government should allocate funds from the already debt-burdened state treasury towards paying insurance premiums for farmers. He also demanded that the government should immediately release the pending DA for employees and pensioners.
–IANS
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