JOIN USSpeaking at the district-level workshop on Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima Yojana for the field key officers organised jointly by the district administration, labour department, Tokyo General Insurance Company here on Saturday, he said smart cards have been issued only to 51 per cent of the labourers from unorganised sector in Mangalore. This shows that the officials have failed in providing justice to the poor. The development of the country also depends on the health of an individual, he said.
The DC said the officials should clearly inform the labourers on the time and the date for clicking photographs and issue of the smart card under the scheme. There should be no contusion over the smart cards. The government hospitals under the scheme can utilise the reimbursed funds for upgrading infrastructure facility.
Monitor
Inaugurating the programme, MLA Yogish Bhat said a monitoring committee should be constituted to monitor the utilisation of the RSBY. Many a time, the scheme is misused.
Unorganised Labourers Welfare Bill has been passed which will be implemented soon. Smart cards have been issued to 51 per cent of the unorganised labourers in Mangalore. Of the 73,246 labour force, smart cards have been issued to 14,260 persons. There is a need to give time bound to issue smart cards to the real beneficiaries.
The government should also think of increasing the insurance coverage from Rs 30,000 to Rs one lakh. The scheme should also include middleclass.
Zilla Panchayat CEO Dr K N Vijayaprakash said there is a feeling of social insecurity and social inequality among the unorganised labourers. The officials should see that the RSBY reaches each and every beneficiary.
Smart cards
Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Assistant Labour Commissioner Venkatesh Shindhihatti said Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima Yojana will cover beedi workers, street vendors, domestic workers and MGNREGS labourers from this year. The scheme was implemented last year on pilot basis in Mysore, Belgaum, Bangalore Rural and Shimoga districts. Under the scheme, the BPL families recognised in the all family census conducted by the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department in the year 2002 were included in the scheme’s beneficiaries list and were allotted with bio-metric smart card, on one card to one family basis.
A maximum five members of a family can be benefitted from the scheme and health insurance is available up to Rs 30,000 in a year from National Insurance Company Ltd.
As many as 73,981 BPL beneficiaries have been given smart card in the district. The smart card holders can avail the treatment in 16 private hospitals and seven government hospitals in the district.
A sum of Rs 1.42 crore claim has been received by the beneficiaries in the district in the last one year.
He said: “We need more field key officers to implement the scheme. As a result, it was decided to impart training to Panchayat Development Officers, Village Accountants and Secretaries.”