J&K cancels Reliance’s health cover plan for govt employees

THE STATE GOVERNER SAID THE WHOLE ISSUE WAS FULL OF FRAUDS WITH MAJOR DISCREPANCIES IN TENDER ALLOTMENT

SRINAGAR : Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik cancelled the state government’s contract with Reliance General Insurance for providing group mediclaim health insurance policy to employees as there was “some bungling” in it.

“The whole issue was full of frauds. I discussed the issue with the chief secretary and made it clear that such things can't happen in my presence. So we decided to cancel it,” Malik told a news channel on Wednesday.

The decision comes after the mandatory Reliance insurance for the state government employees and pensioners had sparked a row. “A private company had asked for tenders on behalf of another company. Those bids were not displayed anywhere on our (government's) website. The tenders (or the value of amount) were changed to suit a particular company,” Malik said, adding that the tenders were opened on a holiday.

The governor’s administration had formally rolled out the Group Mediclaim Health Insurance Scheme (GMHIS) for employees, pensioners and accredited journalists in the state on September 20 which came into effect from October 1.

It had tied up with Reliance General Insurance for the mediclaim policy.

The company had claimed that they “have won the employee health insurance policy as part of the J&K chief minister’s Group Mediclaim Policy after a rigorous transparent competitive tender process involving technical and financial evaluation of multiple bidders, carried out strictly in compliance with the laid down guidelines of the state government”.