The Andhra Pradesh government has launched a scheme to bring insurance coverage to low-income households in the state. Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the 'YSR Bima' insurance scheme on Wednesday.
The scheme will cover nearly 1.4 crore families in the unorganised sector, who will receive insurance money in the event of untimely death or permanent disability of the breadwinner of the family.
Under the scheme, eligible people in the age bracket of 18 to 50 years will receive Rs 5 lakh in the event of accidental death or permanent disability, while eligible people in the age bracket of 51 to 70 years will receive Rs 3 lakh.
In case of a breadwinner's natural death in the age group of 18 to 50 years, the insurance scheme will offer Rs 2 lakh.
In the event of partial permanent disability due to an accident in case of eligible people between 18 and 70 years, the family will receive Rs 1.5 lakh.
In addition to this, the Chief Minister also announced that immediate assistance of Rs 10,000 will be provided to the families through village and ward secretariats.
Speaking at the launch of YSR Bima scheme, the Chief Minister said that the State government will fund the scheme by paying Rs 510 Crore every year as a premium, despite the central government having withdrawn from this scheme.
"The government assures that the claim amount will be deposited into the linked bank account within 15 days of the claim being made," read an official government statement.
The CM said the amount is expected to go up further as the number of beneficiaries is expected to increase within a few days, once the bank accounts of some of the eligible people are operationalised.
After launching the scheme, the Chief Minister handed over insurance cover to a few beneficiaries.
To claim the accidental death financial assistance, the bereaved family will have to reach out to the village secretariat, a grassroots level governance system in the state aimed at decentralisation.