Himachal Pradesh Government would soon constitute a Joint Coordination Committee for speedy disposal of problems of pensioners of the state.
Announcing this while presiding over the second convention of Bhartiya Rajya Pensioners’ Mahasangh on Sunday at Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University auditorium in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said that effective steps would also be taken to constitute Pensioners’ Kalyan Board in the state.
“The present State Government has provided financial benefits of Rs 5,000 crore to employees and pensioners of the State during last two years,” he said adding that the BJP governments have always maintained cordial relations with employees and pensioners.
Chief Minister said that pensioners and employees were backbone of the government as they play a vital role in effective implementation of policies and programs for development of the state. “Today, Himachal has emerged as model state for other hill states of the country and pensioners and employees have played a crucial role in this,” he added.
He said that appropriate steps would be taken to provide cashless medical facility to the employees and pensioners of the state. State government has launched Him Care scheme for families not covered under Ayushman Bharat scheme of the Government of India. It provides for free treatment up to Rs. Five lakh per family. So far, about 45,282 patients have availed the facility of this scheme and Rs. 51 crore 33 lakh have been spent till now. He said that Rs. 100 crore have been spent for treatment of more than one lakh people under Ayushman Bharat and Him Care in the state, besides this Rs. 40 crore have been spent under Chief Minister relief fund for providing free medical treatment facility to the people.
He said that provision of providing Rs 2,000 per month has been made under Sahara Yojana to provide relief and care to economically week families suffering from serious diseases like cancer, epilepsy etc.
The state contribution under New Pension Scheme has been enhanced to 14 percent from 10 percent benefitting about 80,000 employees.
The Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur, addressing the gathering, said that the Central Government was taking effective steps for resolving the problems of pensioners. “The Centre has taken various steps for welfare of all sections of the society. A meeting would be organized at New Delhi for resolving the problems of Pensioners Mahasangh,” he added.
The state Health and Family Welfare Minister Vipin Singh Parmar said that present state government has completed two years on December 27, 2019, and these two years had been dedicated to the good governance and overall development of the State.