DEHRADUN: Irate at the delay in implementation of the U-health card scheme, state government employees have urged chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat to intervene in the matter for ensuring its speedy implementation.
The U-health card scheme was launched by the state government in 2010 to provide cashless medical facility to its employees, pensioners and their dependents. Launched as an ‘optional scheme’ initially, it faced several hiccups and virtually came to a standstill with time.
In December last year, the government decided to reintroduce it by making it mandatory for all government employees and pensioners. Through the cards, the beneficiaries were supposed to get cashless treatment on admission in empanelled private hospitals.
However, employees have alleged that though the requisite contribution towards the scheme was being deducted from their salary, they were yet to avail benefits of the scheme.
“The government has been making promises regarding implementation of the scheme, but has not been able to execute it, which shows the seriousness of the government towards the welfare of its employees,” said Thakur Prahlad Singh, president of the state employees’ joint council. The council, with which over 250 various government employees’ associations are affiliated, has sent a memorandum to the CM in this regard and will be holding a mass rally in Dehradun next week to press for their demand.
“In the absence of proper implementation of the scheme, the employees are facing severe difficulties...it’s high time the government paid attention to it,” Deepak Joshi, president of the Uttarakhand Secretariat Association, which has around 1,500 employees of the state secretariat affiliated with it, said.
{{/usCountry}}“In the absence of proper implementation of the scheme, the employees are facing severe difficulties...it’s high time the government paid attention to it,” Deepak Joshi, president of the Uttarakhand Secretariat Association, which has around 1,500 employees of the state secretariat affiliated with it, said.
{{/usCountry}}Cabinet minister Madan Kaushik, who is official spokesperson of the BJP government, said that the employees’ welfare was on “top priority” for the government and that it was working to ensure that “scheme’s benefits reached the intended beneficiaries at the earliest by removing any technical difficulties that prevailed in the matter”.