U’khand MLAs to get Rs 25L insurance cover soon

Dehradun: Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Saturday announced that the Congress-led state government will introduce a first of its kind insurance scheme for Rs 25 lakh each to cover all 70 sitting legislators, including 33 of Congress, in state within week.
This scheme will give much needed relief to the widows and next of kin of sitting MLAs and former MLAs in the event of any eventuality in future. The scheme would also cover 30 former legislators.
Rawat’s announcement to this effect came after his meeting with sitting and former Congress legislators on Saturday. He said government would issue a Government Order (GO) on this soon after detailed modalities on the insurance scheme were finalized.
The CM said although details of the proposed insurance scheme are yet to be worked out, a part of the sum would be deducted from the monthly salary (Rs.25,000/) of each legislator while the remaining amount would be deposited by government to give the insurance cover to the legislators. Rawat admitted that this would put a financial burden on the state exchequer but “we will find out new resources of revenue to compensate it”.
“We thought of launching the insurance scheme for MLAs in order to provide relief to their widows or other family members who are often left in the lurch and have to face hardships after former’s sudden death,” said Rawat
All sitting and former MLAs, those from BJP, have hailed Rawat’s announcement on this effect.
“Though, we had been demanding it since the first Congress-led state government headed by former CM ND Tiwari was installed in 2002, the Rawat government is the first one to give a serious thought to the welfare of MLAs’ families after their death,” said cabinet minister Yashpal Arya, who is also Congress MLA from Bajpur.
“We may be from BJP, but we appreciate the Rawat government’s move to introduce the insurance scheme for MLAs,” said state Congress chief Tirath Singh Rawat.