Shillong, Sep 6: The Sumer unit of the Jaintia National Council (JNC) has taken up the issue of farmers being denied PM-KISAN scheme benefits with the East Jaintia Hills deputy commissioner.
JNC Sumer unit submitted a complaint to Deputy Commissioner Abhilash Baranwal against the Meghalaya Rural Bank (MRB)-Sutnga branch on Wednesday.
The organisation said it was distressing to note that “thousands of farmers in the district continue to be denied the benefit of PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi”.
“In our area (Sumer Elaka), farmers are facing a lot of problems when it comes to farming and cropping, they are also losing huge benefits under the said scheme that is their due and right,” it added.
PM-Kisan is a central scheme that started on December 1, 2018. The amount is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries with no middlemen or commission. The state government has to identify the farmers’ families so as to avail the benefit of the scheme.
“However, we fail to understand why the bank is delaying the scheme. This is an unfortunate lapse, painfully harmful for the farmers. This cruel joke and historic injustice on the farmers should make us realise that governance has to be for the benefit of the people at large,” said Sakilan Chyrmang, president of the JNC Sumer unit, in a statement.
The JNC members also flagged the issue that farmers were mistreated by the bank staff. Baranwal assured that he would take up the issue with the officials concerned and start an inquiry to make sure that the farmers were not affected.
