J&K: Congress alleges PM Modi of 'arm twisting' govt employees to buy Reliance health insurance

More than a fortnight after Jammu and Kashmir government in a tie-up with Reliance rolled out a health insurance scheme for government employees, Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday seized the opportunity to lash out at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging him of helping Reliance General Insurance's owner Anil Ambani. The scheme has been made mandatory for the government employees.

Taking to Twitter, Rahul, who has been lashing at the PM over Rafael deal, cited a media report saying, "When your BFF is the PM, you can get the 1,30,000 Cr. Rafale deal, even without relevant experience. But wait. There’s more! Apparently, 400,000 JK Govt staff will also be arm-twisted into buying health insurance ONLY from your company!"

Earlier on September 20, the state government had rolled out the group mediclaim health insurance scheme for employees, pensioners and accredited journalists in the state. Principal Secretary Finance Navin K Choudhary had said the scheme is mandatory for government employees including employees of PSUs, autonomous bodies and universities while it will be optional for pensioners and other categories of employees and accredited journalists.

The scheme was scheduled to come into effect from October 1 for a period of one year and is extendable annually for three years based on satisfactory performance of the insurer, he had said. Choudhary had said the policy has been tied up with Reliance General Insurance company on an annual premium of Rs 8,777 and Rs 22,229 for employees and pensioners, respectively.

The policy will provide health insurance coverage of up to Rs six lakh per employee or pensioner per annum along with his or her five dependent family members on floater basis. He said the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board and the accredited journalists of the state shall be also covered under the scheme.

Choudhary said the insurance company will create a corporate buffer of Rs 10 crore as part of policy to meet the expenditure incurred on the identified illness over and above the insurance cover of Rs six lakh.