Minister of Labour Pithani Satyanarayana on Wednesday said the government would look into the possibility of extending Chandranna Bima to fishermen and those killed in accidents at railway platforms and tracks. But there were problems due to some legal issues, he added.
Making a statement on the Chandranna Bima Scheme (CBS), which Palle Raghunatha Reddy, Vangalapudi Anitha, Bonda Umamaheswara Rao, and Tenali Sravan Kumar raised under Rule 344 in the Assembly session, Mr. Satyanarayana said post-mortem was compulsory for settling claims under the scheme. But chances of tracing bodies of fishermen meeting a watery grave in the sea were dim.
Similarly, for entertaining claims of accidental deaths at railway stations and on railway tracks, certain jurisdictional and other issues were to be sorted out with the Railways, he added.
“Otherwise, the State has no objection to come to the rescue of the bereaved families. It will consider making the scheme applicable to priests of all faiths and house maids who are poor, though it covers only workers in the unorganised sector.”
The Minister said the scheme started with the A.P. Transport Drivers’ Social Security Scheme and was extended to almost all sections. He stated that 66,000 claims of natural death and approximately 6,020 accidental death claims had been received so far, and the total payout stood at around ₹500 crore.
