<p>About ten months ago, Sumalatha D had sustained serious injuries in an accident. The money spent on her treatment in a private hospital was to be reimbursed by the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI).<br /><br /></p>.<p>But the reimbursement remains a distant dream till date. She took refuge under the Guarantee of Service to Citizens (GSC) scheme (Sakaala) to know the status of her application. That has not worked, even after eight months.<br /><br />Sumalatha’s case shows how the Sakaala scheme has become another white elephant, courtesy of the corrupt officialdom. <br /><br />In April 2015, she met with a road accident and was rushed to Hosmat Hospital. She underwent many tests and surgery in the hospital and she had to foot a bill of Rs 95,000.<br />Sumalatha says, “Once I was discharged from the hospital, I submitted the bills to the ESI for reimbursement.” Every month she and her husband D Srinivas have been going to the ESI office to check the status, only to be told by the staff to check the notice board.<br /><br />Finally, they decided to try Sakaala, on a suggestion by social activist Kalidas Reddy. On doing so, officials did not give them the computer-generated slip with a code number. Instead, they just signed on the application and returned it on May 6, 2015.<br /><br />Sakaala mandates that the service should be provided within seven days, failing which the official concerned will have to pay a penalty which escalates with each passing day. Since the slip was not generated, nobody in the administration knew that a poor woman had applied for reimbursement.<br /><br />Reddy filed an RTI application on December 28, 2015, on whether ESI has been exempted from Sakaala, order copy of exemption if it is exempted, status of Sumalatha's claim for reimbursement, certified copy of the written claim, details of the file movement, time limit for processing the claim and the procedure followed by ESI for reimbursement cases.<br /><br />“I have not received any information even after 44 days of filing the RTI application. The first appeal too has not fetched any response,” said Reddy.<br /><br />The activist says officials are out to kill the Sakaala scheme because it minimises corruption.<br /><br />“An effective implementation of Sakaala will curb bribery in the departments substantially, which the officials do not want. In this case, the officials have ulterior motives to extract money from the person who has already undergone trauma,” he said.<br /><br />The case affirms the claim by Santosh Nargund of Rashtrotthan Sankalp and Sakaala Watch, who claimed in his report on Sakaala four days ago: “Four years after Sakaala was launched, the hopes of citizens to avail services from the government without running from pillar to post and without paying a bribe still remain a dream.”<br /></p>
<p>About ten months ago, Sumalatha D had sustained serious injuries in an accident. The money spent on her treatment in a private hospital was to be reimbursed by the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI).<br /><br /></p>.<p>But the reimbursement remains a distant dream till date. She took refuge under the Guarantee of Service to Citizens (GSC) scheme (Sakaala) to know the status of her application. That has not worked, even after eight months.<br /><br />Sumalatha’s case shows how the Sakaala scheme has become another white elephant, courtesy of the corrupt officialdom. <br /><br />In April 2015, she met with a road accident and was rushed to Hosmat Hospital. She underwent many tests and surgery in the hospital and she had to foot a bill of Rs 95,000.<br />Sumalatha says, “Once I was discharged from the hospital, I submitted the bills to the ESI for reimbursement.” Every month she and her husband D Srinivas have been going to the ESI office to check the status, only to be told by the staff to check the notice board.<br /><br />Finally, they decided to try Sakaala, on a suggestion by social activist Kalidas Reddy. On doing so, officials did not give them the computer-generated slip with a code number. Instead, they just signed on the application and returned it on May 6, 2015.<br /><br />Sakaala mandates that the service should be provided within seven days, failing which the official concerned will have to pay a penalty which escalates with each passing day. Since the slip was not generated, nobody in the administration knew that a poor woman had applied for reimbursement.<br /><br />Reddy filed an RTI application on December 28, 2015, on whether ESI has been exempted from Sakaala, order copy of exemption if it is exempted, status of Sumalatha's claim for reimbursement, certified copy of the written claim, details of the file movement, time limit for processing the claim and the procedure followed by ESI for reimbursement cases.<br /><br />“I have not received any information even after 44 days of filing the RTI application. The first appeal too has not fetched any response,” said Reddy.<br /><br />The activist says officials are out to kill the Sakaala scheme because it minimises corruption.<br /><br />“An effective implementation of Sakaala will curb bribery in the departments substantially, which the officials do not want. In this case, the officials have ulterior motives to extract money from the person who has already undergone trauma,” he said.<br /><br />The case affirms the claim by Santosh Nargund of Rashtrotthan Sankalp and Sakaala Watch, who claimed in his report on Sakaala four days ago: “Four years after Sakaala was launched, the hopes of citizens to avail services from the government without running from pillar to post and without paying a bribe still remain a dream.”<br /></p>
