THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The people of Kerala, irrespective of caste and creed, should support the Karunya lottery scheme, said Defence Minister A K Antony.
Inaugurating the distribution of the Karunya Benevolent Fund of the State Lotteries Department here on Sunday, the Defence Minister complimented the State Government for launching a unique initiative for the benefit of the poor.
“Though the medical sector has witnessed several advancements, the treatment costs too have risen accordingly. A majority of the population cant afford the treatment costs especially for chronic diseases,” he added.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who inaugurated the meeting said that the State Government would act tough on other-state lottery sales. “The other state lotteries have siphoned off thousands of crores of rupees from the state. The government will not allow the looting anymore. Strict action will be taken against those resorting to illegal lottery trade,” he added.
The Chief Minister said that the self-entrepreneurship scheme and Karunya Fund scheme were two prestigious projects of the UDF Government. “The State Government aims at social welfare through lottery sales and not revenue making,” he added.
Finance Minister K M Mani said that a foolproof mechanism has been devised for the distribution of the Karunya Fund assistance. “Applications received at the District Lottery Offices will be scrutinised by a committee headed by the District Collector.
The district-level committee will then forward the application to the state-level committee and if found eligible the assistance will be directly handed over to the hospital concerned,” he said. “Besides government hospitals, patients in other accredited hospitals will also be eligible for the fund,” he said. 20 beneficiaries were given a total of Rs 17 lakh aid at the inaugural function.
District Collector K N Satheesh, Lotteries Department director Biju Prabhakar and Welfare Fund Board chairman Babu Joseph addressed the gathering.
Various lottery agents’ association office-bearers including Purushothama Bharathi, Jamal, Philip Jospeh, M Balan and M Ansaruddeen also spoke.