Pune civic body extends life insurance cover of employees till the end of pandemic – The Indian Express

With the possibility of a third wave of Covid-19 looming large, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) decided to extend the tenure of its life insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh for civic healthcare workers dying due to Covid till the end of the pandemic.

PMC had launched the Covid Suraksha Kavach insurance scheme for its staff and assured Rs 50 lakh financial assistance or Rs 25 lakh financial assistance and a job to one of the family members of the deceased staff. This was in addition to the insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh assured by the Union government for Covid warriors. Over 50 civic staff have died of Covid-19 so far.

The Union government had declared a life insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh for healthcare workers dying of Covid during the pandemic. The PMC on the same lines had launched its scheme on June 4, 2020. The civic administrations proposal to extend it till the pandemic is over has been approved, said chairperson of the standing committee Hemant Rasane.

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The PMC in June last year had declared the insurance cover for healthcare and frontline workers till July 30, 2020 as the Union government scheme was declared till June 30, 2020.

The Union government under its National Health Mission had launched the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package: Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting Covid19 in which a Rs 50 lakh insurance cover was provided to healthcare workers treating or serving Covid patients.

The state government conveyed on April 28 this year that the Union government has extended its scheme by 180 days from March 2021 while the state government has declared it till June 30, 2021.

Taking into consideration that the Union government has decided to extend the life insurance scheme, PMC felt it to be needful to extend its own scheme. The PMC insurance cover scheme had to be either extended till the date of extension of the Union government scheme or the declaration of the end of pandemic by the government, said municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar.

The PMC has been under criticism for delaying the sanctioning of the life cover amount to the family members of deceased civic staff. The civic body, after a gap of one year, handed over a cheque of Rs 25 lakh as financial assistance to the family members of the civic staff who died of Covid-19.

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Pune civic body extends life insurance cover of employees till the end of pandemic - The Indian Express