Urban News

The Hindu 22.07.2009

Kalaignar insurance scheme to benefit 1 crore families

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: More than one crore families in the State with an annual income of Rs.72,000 or less will benefit from the Tamil Nadu government’s “Kalaignar Insurance Scheme for Life Saving Treatments” to be launched on Thursday.

All members of welfare boards in the State will automatically become beneficiaries, with their dependents being covered too. Each family will enjoy benefits up to Rs. 1 lakh for certain procedures in private hospitals and pay wards in government hospitals, Health Minister MRK Panneerselvam said.

Complete cashless transactions will be allowed up to the insured amount.

Private insurance company Star Insurance, contracted to implement the scheme, has entered into contracts with a number of hospitals in private health care centres and hospitals throughout the State. There will be a minimum of six hospitals in each district and 15 hospitals in the major cities. The government will pay the premium of Rs. 500 per annum. A total of Rs. 517.30 crore is the allotment for the current financial year.

Each beneficiary will have to produce a biometric smart card bearing the health and treatment details of each member of the family to avail the service. Camps will be held across the State and a door-to-door campaign will be launched to identify beneficiaries who do not belong to any of the Welfare Boards but satisfy the criteria. Members of the Boards can use their identity cards to initially apply for health insurance.

The Health Department has identified a total of 51 procedures, which the scheme will be applicable to, based on their existing database of list of common complaints and the waiting lists in government hospitals, Principal Secretary, Health, V.K.Subburaj said. He added that pay wards in government hospitals, such as the Institute of Gastrointestinal Surgery at Government Stanley Hospital, would be part of the scheme.

The Hindu 22.07.2009

Stormwater drain planned in Maduravoyal

K.Lakshmi

— Photo: K.Pichumani

BLOCKING FLOW: Encroachments on the Maduravoyal lake are cited as one of the reasons for inundation of the nearby localities during monsoon. Residents of the municipality want them removed and the waterbody desilted.

CHENNAI: In an attempt to ward off a repeat of last year’s monsoon-related woes, the Maduravoyal Municipality proposes to construct a stormwater drain covering many areas that were affected then.

Residents said that the existing stormwater drain to carry the surplus water from the Maduravoyal lake through the Alapakkam Main Road did not help to prevent inundation of several localities last year. Many localities such as Metro Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Ayyavu Nagar and Chakrapani Nagar remained under sheets of water for several days last monsoon.

S. Nathan, a resident of Krishna Nagar, said that the capacity of the drain constructed along the Alapakkam Main Road was not sufficient to carry the rainwater collected from areas upstream such as Iyyappanthangal, Vanagaram and Porur.

Officials of Maduravoyal Municipality said that another stormwater drain would be constructed on the Mettukuppam Road, at a cost of Rs.2.90 crore. The length of the facility would be nearly 3 km and it would drain the rainwater into the Cooum river. The new drain is expected to benefit several localities including Pushpa Garden, Ashtalakshmi Nagar and Omshakthi Nagar.

Last year, the local body was involved in pumping out flood water from several localities for more than two weeks.

While about Rs.1 crore for the project would be provided as infrastructure gap filling fund by the Commissionerate of Municipal Administration, funds to meet the remaining cost would be mobilised by the local body. Once the CMA accorded technical sanction for the facility, tenders would be floated, an official of the municipality said. The local body plans to complete the work before the onset of the northeast monsoon.

Residents also demand that the Maduravoyal lake and the flood carrier channel be cleared of encroachments to prevent overflow of surplus water. They complained that the waterbody, which was originally spread over 120 acres, has shrunk to 20 acres.

The municipality has also expedited works to repair the roads damaged in the last year’s rains at a total cost of Rs.60 lakh. The project would cover roads in places, including Thedeer Nagar and Krishna Nagar.