Thrissur: Wadakkanchery Assembly constituency will be the first constituency in the country to be covered by a health insurance scheme by August 1, MLA Anil Akkara, representing the segment, said. The project is being implemented in association with the public sector firm Oriental Insurance Company. The basic premium for the health insurance scheme is Rs 800 for a family. Besides that, for each member of the family, Rs 100 needs to be paid as a premium. “I was talking to most of the insurance companies to implement the project and decided to tie-up with Oriental. The company is giving a yearly coverage of Rs 50,000 for a family and an NGO, led by me in Adat in the constituency, will give Rs 25,000 along with the company coverage. That way, for in-patient treatment, a family in the segment will get a maximum coverage of Rs 75,000 a year in all the major Hospitals,” MLA told Deccan Chronicle.
Those in between the age group of three months to 65 years of age can be part of the scheme. Starting from May 15 to June 15, the residents of Wadakkanchery segment can join the scheme by visiting Municipality and Grama Panchayat offices. After verification of applications, the scheme will be implemented on August 1. “This is the first ever health insurance scheme to be implemented for an Assembly constituency in the country,” he said.
Lawsuit for Adat Bank
The MLA expressed hope that the High Court would come up with an order to revoke the unilateral decision of the state government to dissolve the democratically elected managing committee of the UDF-led Adat Farmers’ Service Co-operative Bank (AFSCB). He had fasted for a week recently against the government order to dissolve the committee of the bank. The HC will be considering his petition to be impleaded in the case for revoking the government order for dissolution on Friday.
“The allegations of financial misappropriation in the bank are wrong. For a loan which my father took 20 years ago, the arbitrary court asked me to pay Rs 2.5 lakh a few years ago, and along with the interest to be paid since the court order, I paid nearly Rs 5.5 lakh to settle the loan before I contested the Assembly elections last year,” he noted. He also refuted the allegations of the CPM over the issuance of a Rs 15 crore loan to a private firm led by the president of the bank without any guarantee. “The firm that availed the loan is a farmers’ rice company which procured paddy from the farmers in Thrissur. It procured paddy worth Rs 25 crore and took a loan of Rs 15 crore from AFSCB by pledging Rs 25 crore worth paddy as guarantee,” he said. If a Commission was set up to inquiry into such matters, it could be proved that allegations of financial misappropriation were wrong, he noted.
