Sahara scheme beneficiaries await assistance for 3 months

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, February 8

Hundreds of patients suffering from critical diseases have been running from pillar to post for the past three months to get the monthly medical assistance worth Rs 3,000 under the “Sahara Yojana”.

The state government has reportedly not released any budget for the scheme for the past three months.

The Himachal Pradesh “Sahara Yojana” was launched by the previous government in July 2019 with the objective of providing assistance to the patients belonging to weaker sections of the society. The severe illnesses covered under the scheme include paralysis, Parkinson’s disease, cancer, muscular dystrophy, haemophilia, thalassaemia, heart ailments and renal failure.

Under the scheme, patients belonging to the economically weaker section (EWS) of the society receive a monthly assistance of Rs 3,000 in their bank accounts every month.

Raghubir Singh of Ladoh village here says he has been suffering from cancer for the past two years, and has not received Rs 3,000 monthly assistance for the past three months.

Shashi Devi, another cancer patient from the same village, is also making efforts to get Rs 9,000 arrears under the scheme, but to no avail. Similar is the case with cancer patient Raj Kumar from Panchrukhi.

Former Health Minister and senior BJP leader Vipin Singh Parmar said the BJP government always made advance budgetary allocation for the scheme so that patients suffering from critical diseases didn’t have to face hardship. He assailed the Congress government for not making budgetary provisions for the scheme so far. He said the CM must intervene to sort out the issue.

Devender Kumar, state coordinator of the scheme who looks after the allocation of funds, said the medical assistance for November would be disbursed in the next two days. The amount for December and January would, however, be paid only after the allocation of funds by the government. He admitted that the payment had been delayed due to the non-availability of funds.

Yojana launched in July 2019

• n The Himachal Pradesh “Sahara Yojana” was launched by the previous government in July 2019
• n Those suffering from severe diseases get a monthly medical assistance of Rs 3,000 each under the scheme
• n The beneficiaries have not got payment for the past 3 months due to non-allocation of funds by the previous govt

The assurance

• The state coordinator of the scheme said the payment for November would be disbursed in the next two days
• The amount for December and January would, however, be paid only after the allocation of funds by the govt