Implement YSR Bima Changes From July 1: AP CM YS Jagan

AMARAVATI: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the authorities to implement the YSR Bima scheme with new changes from July 1, where the state government shall provide assistance to those families of the deceased directly.

An insurance amount of Rs 1 lakh will be paid if the person earning in the family is between 18-50 years dies naturally and

Rs 5 lakh if a person aged between 18-70 years succumbs to death in an accident.

During a review meeting conducted on YSR Bima on Wednesday, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to revamp the existing guidelines of YSR Bima scheme and make the claim settlement process much simpler and easier.  He said to implement the scheme with new changes from July 1 and to take steps to resolve the claims related to the deaths of earning persons in the family.

He said that the insurance compensation should be paid within a month of receiving an application and told to appoint a special officer to monitor the scheme.

In addition to these, the Chief Minister told the authorities to compensate for the death of farmers, accidental death of fishermen, death of livestock, on time without any delay and stand in support of those families.

He instructed the Collectors to report on all types of insurance claims every three months, strictly monitoring how many claims have been received and resolved. The responsibility for the screening of insurance applications must be given to the village, ward secretariats said the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, the officials stated that the government has not backed out in providing financial assistance to those families who lost their sole breadwinner. The officials explained that the government started the YSR Bima scheme for about 1.4 crore ration cardholders across the State, despite the central government withdrawing from the scheme which earlier paid 50 percent share in the premium amount. After that the Centre withdrew, the entire premium was paid by the State on humanitarian grounds to provide security for those families in need.  

Authorities said that there was a serious delay in opening bank accounts, linking to insurance and non-settlement of claims, compensating the affected families and many more. Even if the premium is paid in full by the state government, the accounts are not being opened or linked to insurance, resulting in millions of applications pending at bank branches to enroll for eligibility under insurance. Even after completing the paper process, 45 days is taken as a lean period and the authorities do not give any compensation if the person earning in the family dies during that period. Almost 12,039 people have died with 45 day period of taking insurance and no compensation was paid to those families by the banks, but with the intervention of Chief Minister Rs 254.72 crore has been paid to them on humanitarian grounds. 

The officials informed that so far only 60 lakh accounts have been opened and the remaining 58 lakh applications are in pending state. Similarly, in regard to claims, 6173 applications have been received till date, where only 2839 documents have been uploaded and 152 families have recived the claim settlement. In this regard, the officials recommended certain changes in the scheme, where the government will be paying directly under YSR Bima.

Further, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy congratulated the officials of the Finance department for their hard work behind providing the welfare schemes to the public even during Covid times. He said that the government had transferred Rs 95,000 crore through DBT, and spent a total of Rs 1.35 lakh crore including schemes like Aarogyasri, Sampoorna Poshana, distribution of house sites, leaving no gap for corruption. Although the state is not receiving the expected revenue due to the pandemic situation, the government is moving ahead without holding back any welfare scheme.

Ministers Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, Kodali Venkateswararao, Chief Secretary Adityanath Das, Principal Secretary of Finance SS Rawat, Special CS of Labour department Anantaramu, Special CS of Housing department Ajay Jain, Principal Secretary of Panchayat Raj department Gopalakrishna Dwivedi, SERP CEO Rajababu, YSR Bima State project manager Raja Pratap and other officials were present in the meeting.

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