Phidim, July 15

Farmers of Panchthar district who suffered huge losses from hailstorms earlier have been left distressed due to delay in payment from Neco Insurance, the insurance company with which they had insured their crops.

As per data with District Agriculture Development Office in Phidim, some 28 farmers in the district had got their crops insured last year. The total underwrite value for the crops insured stood over 4.379 million rupees. One year after the crops were destroyed by hailstorms and the farmers sought compensation from the insurance company, they have not received any payment yet.

Of the farmers who had got their crops insured, Prem Sigdel and Rudra Neupane of Yangbarak-6, Shanti Jabegu of Phidim-10, Dambar Kumar Limbu of Phidim-3, Purna Bahadur Magar of Phidim-2 and Lilaram Angdembe of Phidim-9 incurred losses from hailstorms last year.

“Though the technicians visited our fields to confirm damages and I duly applied for compensation at the insurance company office in May last year, I have not received any payment,” lamented Sigdel. Similar is the case with the other farmers.

Senior Officer at Agriculture Development Office in Panchthar Kamlesh Tiwari expressed his surprise at the indifference of the insurance company for payment. Ilam-based branch chief of Neco Insurance Pratima Ghimire admitted that there had been a delay in providing compensation to the farmers. She maintained that the delay was caused as the files had to be sent to the central office.