Reliance insurance for govt employees goes

Jammu, October 25

Governor Satya Pal Malik has cancelled the group medical insurance policy for 4.5 lakh government employees with Reliance General Insurance Company after the detection of multiple frauds and ordered a high-level probe into the matter.

In an interview to a news channel in Srinagar on Wednesday night, the Governor disclosed that the agreement reached out between the state government and Reliance General Insurance Company had been cancelled because the state administration had detected multiple frauds in the scheme, indicating that several heads would roll in the state bureaucracy.

On September 20, the state finance department had notified the implementation of Mediclaim Insurance Policy for 4.5 lakh government employees, including employees of PSUs, autonomous bodies, universities, 1.6 lakh pensioners and their dependent family members. In the process, a substantial amount was taken from the employees as the first instalment towards the insurance cover.

“A quarterly premium of Rs 2,194 (per employee) of the total annual amount of Rs 8,777 for the insurance cover of Rs 6 lakh was deducted from the government employees’ salaries in the month of September,” official sources said. The annual premium for pensioners was Rs 22,229.

The Governor, in the interview, also made the startling disclosure that the government officers had not invited proper tenders for the policy and a front company had been floated by some officers to seek tenders. “Tenders were not uploaded on the official website. The tenders were opened on a holiday to suit a company… a fraud was established in the implementation of the scheme which led to cancellation of the agreement with the insurance company,” the Governor said.

Incidentally, government employees had registered their resentment against the insurance policy which had been made mandatory.

Following the controversy, an official spokesperson, on October 6, had said that the scheme had been implemented after following the required procedures in a fair and transparent manner. — TNS

Omar: Cancellation not enough, punish guilty

“The Hon @jandkgovernor now needs to order an inquiry headed by the Chief Secretary to establish who was behind the allotment of the insurance contract,” Omar wrote on Twitter. In another tweet, he asked, “Fraud by whom? The guilty must be exposed and punished. Just cancelling the contract is not enough”.