Palghar farmer stages protest with buffalo carcass over insurance delay

In a dramatic incident that underscored the growing frustration among rural livestock owners, a farmer from Maharashtra’s Palghar district staged a protest by placing the carcass of his dead buffalo outside a nationalised bank, demanding immediate settlement of his pending insurance claim.According to information, the protest which lasted about 10 minutes on Saturday drew large crowds and prompted swift intervention from local authorities. Videos of the incident, showing the buffalo’s carcass outside the bank’s entrance, quickly went viral on social media, igniting public debate over delayed insurance payouts that often push farmers into financial distress.
The farmer, identified as Navsu Digha from Takpada village in Mokhada taluka, had purchased 10 milking buffaloes in 2022 through a Rs 12 lakh loan from the bank’s Mokhada branch. Despite insuring the animals, Digha alleged that he had not received compensation for two buffaloes that died in the last three years.On Saturday, Digha arrived at the bank on a tractor carrying the carcass and parked it near the entrance. “Even after taking insurance for my buffaloes, I have not received a single rupee as compensation. Because of the bank’s negligence, we farmers are being cheated,” he said during the protest. “If the money is not given soon, I will leave the dead buffalo here itself. Let the bank keep it until I am paid,” he warned.Local farmer leaders and political representatives soon joined the protest, urging the bank to address the grievances. Police personnel were deployed to manage the crowd and restore order.
A senior bank officer later met the protestors and provided a written assurance stating that compensation for Digha and other affected farmers would be processed and disbursed within 31 days through the insurance company.Following the assurance, Digha ended his protest and returned home with the carcass. Mokhada’s assistant police inspector, Premnath Dhole, confirmed that the situation was peacefully resolved after the bank’s commitment.Farmer groups in the region have called the protest a symbol of the growing distrust between rural borrowers and financial institutions, urging authorities to streamline insurance claim procedures to prevent similar incidents in the future.