The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Beneficiaries of insurance scheme unknown

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Beneficiaries of insurance scheme unknown

N.J. Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State government may be contemplating legal action against a private insurance company with which the previous government proposed to implement a health insurance scheme for families below the property line, but returning the Rs. 72.7 lakh collected by revenue authorities from the beneficiaries can prove arduous owing to lack of proper accounting and maintenance of accounts.

Official sources told The Hindu that the insurance company had not responded to a letter from the Kudumbasree Director on August 13, demanding repayment of the sum and 12 per cent interest on the Rs. 6.37 crore deposited with it since February 2006. The official told the company that it had offered to secure subsidy from the Centre under the Universal Health Insurance Scheme, but did not honour the commitment. But the company held on to the public funds, prompting the Government to seek payment of interest.

If the company does not repay the balance amount collected from 188 local self-government institutions with interest, the government will move the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority. The Local Administration Department is understood to have sought legal opinion to do so, sources said.

The previous government had initially roped in Kudumbasree volunteers for canvassing and enrolling beneficiaries. After enrolling around 11-lakh families, they found the uncertainty over the scheme difficult to handle and opted out. The government then directed the revenue authorities to take up the task, sources said.

The revenue authorities were directed to distribute forms of the scheme through village offices. The Thiruvananthapuram District Collector alone had demanded two-lakh forms and brochures to be distributed in rural areas and one-lakh in urban areas. In their race to achieve the target within the prescribed time, the officials enrolled families without keeping proper accounts or details of the beneficiaries.

The present government decided to do away with the scheme following objections from the Union Finance Ministry. Now, tracing the beneficiaries has become virtually impossible.

The Local Administration Department is groping in the dark on how to locate those who joined the scheme at the instance of revenue officials, sources said.

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