Maharashtra: Mr Fadnavis said previous government had made insurance firms pay out Rs 4,000 crore (File)
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday claimed that the Maharashtra government was failing to ensure that insurance firms paid adequate compensation to farmers despite heavy premium collection.
The Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress government was blaming the Centre to hide its failure, he said, speaking to reporters at Parbhani in central Maharashtra.
The BJP-led government headed by him had made insurance firms pay out about Rs 4,000 crore against premium collection of Rs 576 crore, the former chief minister said.
"The state government delayed the tender process. The government has the right to appoint companies for crop insurance. They have failed. To hide these failures, it is blaming the Centre," Mr Fadnavis alleged.
Earlier this week, minister of state for revenue Abdul Sattar had alleged that insurance firms were not paying compensation to farmers.
Against the payment of premium of Rs 5,800 crore by the state and Centre last year, only Rs 1,000 crore were paid out to farmers, he had said.
Agriculture minister Dada Bhuse had said there would be a probe into this issue.
Meanwhile, Mr Fadnavis, who visited COVID-19 centres in Parbhani, said ventilators provided under the PM-CARES Fund were running well in hospitals in the area. There have been allegations that ventilators provided by the Centre were not functioning.
The BJP leader also took a swipe at the state government for declaring standard rates for COVID-19 treatment at private hospitals "after the caseload crossed 50 lakh".
Had the rates been declared earlier, people would not have been forced to pay bills running into lakhs of rupees, he said.