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KANPUR: Nine bank managers, three crop insurance staffers, and 32 farmers – 14 of them landless – have been booked after Rs 68 lakh was fraudulently transferred to 35 “landless” farmers as compensation for crop losses in Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad district in violation of Prime Minister’s Crop Insurance Scheme (PMCIS) rules.Deputy director (agriculture) filed two FIRs. The case pertains to the 2024 rabi season, during which HDFC Ergo had insured crops of 8,849 farmers. When the crops were damaged, the insurance company paid claims worth Rs 2.28 crore to 232 farmers.This included payments of Rs 4 lakh each to several landless farmers. District magistrate Ashutosh Kumar Dwivedi ordered a probe into the landholdings of farmers who received insurance compensation above Rs 1 lakh. The subsequent probe conducted by the naib tehsildar, kanungo, and ADO (agriculture) revealed the 35 farmers did not own any land at the locations mentioned in the insurance claim records.In Balipatti Rani gram panchayat in Amritpur tehsil, out of 15 farmers who received crop insurance claims, 14 had no land. These 14 farmers were paid Rs 24.89 lakh. One farmer, who owned only 0.026 hectare, was given Rs 2,57,160 instead of Rs 2,228.
