Jaipur, Oct. 19 -- The state agricultural department will file a formal complaint against three insurance companies, licensed by the Centre to register farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), for allegedly acquiring Rs.122 crores of the scheme's delivery proceeds through fraudulent means, a senior state minister said on Saturday. Speaking to reporters in Jaipur, state agricuture minister Kirodi Lal Meena said, "Over, 1.7 million (1.70 lakh) farmers applied for claims under PMFBY scheme during Kharif 2023, Rabi 2023, Kharif 2024, and Rabi 2024. The claims were worth a total sum of Rs.122 crore. However, these companies reduced those claims to zero and fraudulently acquired the entire amount from the government in their own pockets. We will soon lodge an FIR against those companies to initiate a formal investigation." According to the minister, a primary probe by the agriculture department has found that over 32,000 such farmers did not receive the claims despite application, but the money was withdrawn as per records. "The department traced forged signatures of district level officials on the clearance documents submitted to the government by these companies- based on which the government had reimbursed the money. But the farmers have never received a single payment from the scheme," said Meena. Four districts - Sriganganagar, Hanumangarh, Churu, and Bikaner - account for a majority of the graft, the agriculture minister added. "These companies have been working with the government since the launch of PMFBY in 2016. In Rajasthan, we had divided the 33 districts (as per the last 2023 agreement) in 10 clusters and divided the charge of those clusters among those three companies," said an official aware of the matter, requesting anonymity. "Prima facie, the government committee formed to monitor the claim applications also did not conduct any survey in many places in the last two years, which resulted in such a huge irregularity going unnoticed. This committee also included a representative of the agriculture department and another from the farmers' organisations- whose signatures were primarily forged by the companies," added the officer quoted above. Meanwhile, the minister Meena assured that all deprived farmers would soon be compensated. "All the outstanding insurance claims, including outstanding subsidy claims for Kharif 2024 and Rabi 2024, as per the crop loss report, have already been paid by the Centre and the State. It will be credited to the farmers soon," Meena said....