BPL benefit scheme not implemented properly in I/E
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, January 20, 2011: Although the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBM) scheme of the union government which provide free medical reimbursement to BPL families was implemented in Imphal East district, the scheme has not proved to be successful in the district.

The fault lies due to poor awareness programmes of the state government.

Although the scheme is implemented in the district, the concerned district authority has not created a proper awareness to the beneficiaries of the scheme.

As a result, around 37 percent of the target beneficiaries could not get the benefits of the scheme.

As per the survey of DRDA conducted from 2002 to 2006, Imphal East has 27,565 BPL families.

However the figure varies with the survey of the planning commission which indicated that Imphal East has 57,227 BPL families.

The BPL families included in the survey of DRDA were all to get the benefits of the scheme.

State government had instructed the district authority to distribute smart cards to the beneficiaries.

Since the authority did not conduct a proper and widespread awareness campaign of the scheme, turn out of beneficiaries during the process of taking photographs was only about 63 percent.

Out of the 27,565 BPL families only 18,259 families were issued smart cards.

The authority is not considering to provide smart cards to the remaining 9306 BPL families in the near future.

The total beneficiaries of the scheme in the state is 9,69,252.In the second phase of the scheme, smart cards will be distributed to BPL families of Imphal West district.

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