lashing at Capt Amrinder Singh Government for turning down the Central Government's pro-poor health insurance scheme, Union Food Processing Industry Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Saturday said it had been proved people of time and again that the welfare was not on the Congress Government's agenda.
In a statement here, the Union Minister said Punjab Government's refusal to implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme, a Central Government-funded health insurance scheme being implemented pan India, had exposed its anti-poor and anti-people mindset.
"The Modi Government has started a Rs 5 lakh per family health insurance for 50 crore people but strangely the Punjab Government has rejected it and is implementing a scheme which offers a medical cover of only Rs 50,000" she said in her statement.
The Union Minister said under the scheme the Union health ministry had set a target of providing an insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year to 50 crore beneficiaries. She said the financial burden of this health scheme were to be borne by the centre and the states on a 60:40 ratio respectively.
"But Punjab government has run away from implementing the scheme by claiming it would be an additional burden on the state exchequer. Saying the Congress government always started ranting about empty treasuries whenever it was tasked with doing public good, he said the government apparently had enough money for renovating ministerial bungalows and luxurious vehicles but no money for a medical insurance scheme for the poor.