TS govt mulling insurance cover to prisoners

Hyderabad: If all goes according to plan, the Telangana State government would soon be launching insurance cover to all prisoners. The government is considering providing Rs 2 lakh life insurance cover for the prisoners under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana. As many as 4,500 convicted inmates throughout the Telangana State would benefit if the scheme is launched.

The government is trying to persuade banks to tie up with the Prison Department to facilitate it to provide insurance cover to prisoners. “Under this scheme, the inmates will get life insurance up to Rs. 2 lakh. Insurance cover is meant to help the family members of prisoners in case of latter’s death.

The prison authorities will scrutinise each case to ensure that insurance amount is paid only in fair cases, “Director General (Prisons) V K Singh said. He said the Prison Department had several meetings with nationalised banks and even parameters were set.

The scheme would be linked to Aadhaar card. Those with Aadhaar would be covered first. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) would soon set up camps to enrol members. After enrolment was completed, the remaining prisoners too would be covered, he said. The Prison Department had already opened accounts for some prisoners under Jan Dhan Yojana scheme, he said.

Explaining about the advantages of the scheme, Singh said the scheme would help inmates (convicts and also those, who spent more than six months in jail) gain financial stability and would also facilitate their family to have access to the money earned by the inmates while they were in jail.

“This would all be available by paying a premium of Rs 330 per annum.” he added. When asked about the insurance coverage in suicide cases, the DG said the policy would not cover in case of suicide.

By Victor Rao