VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday released Rs 254.72 crore under the YSR Bima to the kin of 12,039 deceased persons, who were eligible for the scheme, but did not enrol with the banks. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said the State government won’t back out in providing financial assistance to those families who lost their sole breadwinner. Even though the government pays premium to banks, due to non-enrolment under YSR Bima by the beneficiaries, the government came forward to pay for the 12,039 claims.
The Chief Minister explained that there are about 1.4 crore ration card holders across the State, and the government started YSR Bima in October 2020 by paying a premium of Rs 510 crore to the banks, despite Centre withdrawing from the scheme, which was earlier paying 50 per cent of the premium. “After the Centre’s withdrawal, the entire premium was paid by the State for providing security for those families in need,” Jagan said.
The Centre has put more clauses, closing the existing group insurance system and made a mandatory bank account for every person in the family. The Centre put another clause of a 45-day cool-off period from the day of account opening, under which if someone dies within 45 days of starting the scheme, the insurance will not be paid.The Chief Minister said that 62 lakh accounts were opened so far and the remaining 70 lakh accounts are yet to be opened. The Chief Minister directed the officials to come up with a practical solution to sort out the issues and for the better implementation of the scheme.
He assured that the government shall pay the premium just like the previous years and told the authorities to find a practical solution to support families in need. Further, the Chief Minister said that any eligible person who was left out of the YSR Bima can call toll free number 155214 for getting registered.
Under the scheme, insurance amount for accidental death and total permanent disability for people aged between 18-50 years is Rs 5 lakh and for those between 51-70 years Rs 3 lakh. Similarly, for natural death cases (18-50 years), Rs 2 lakh and for partial, permanent disability in an accident case (18-70 years) Rs 1.5 lakh assistance will be provided. Deputy Chief Minister (Revenue) Dharmana Krishnadas, Labour Minister Gummanur Jayaram, Labour Principal Secretary B Udaya Lakshmi, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Commissioner M Girija Shankar, SERP CEO P Rajababu and other senior officials were present.
