J&K guv okays foreclosure of Reliance deal

THE MATTER HAS ALSO BEEN REFERRED TO THE ANTICORRUPTION BUREAU FOR FURTHER INVESTIGATION

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir governor Satya Pal Malik Saturday approved foreclosure of the contract with Reliance General Insurance Company (RGIC) for implementing the Group Mediclaim Health Insurance Policy for state employees and pensioners.

The matter has also been referred to the newly constituted Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) for investigations.

Former chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah had on Thursday demanded a probe after allegations of fraud into allotment of policy prompted Malik to scrap the scheme.

“The Hon @jandkgovernor now needs to order an inquiry headed by the chief secretary to establish who was behind the allotment of the insurance contract. The sums of money involved are too big for this to have been a straight-forward mistake,” Abdullah had tweeted.

Malik’s administration had on September 20 formally rolled out the scheme , which came into effect from October 1.

Earlier, Malik had told reporters that the contract was“almost terminated” after he found that the allotment was “full of frauds”. On Saturday, state spokesperson said ever since sanction was accorded to implementation of the scheme, doubts have been expressed on its credibility. “This has cast a shadow on the entire process...,” he said.

But Reliance Insurance chief communication officer said: “Whatever we are hearing, it is all through the media and there is no official communication with us from the J&K government.”

GEN RAWAT: MILITANTS ARE LIKE TERRORISTS

Army Chief General Bipin Rawat on Saturday said stone pelters in Jammu and Kashmir were overground workers of terror groups and should be dealt with sternly. His statement came a day after a 22-year-old jawan Rajendra Singh was killed in stone pelting in Kashmir, even as he warned Pakistan to desist from supporting cross-border terrorism. While speaking to the reporters on the sidelines of an event to mark the Infantry Day said, “I still say the same... If they (stone pelters) can kill people with such acts, are they not becoming like terrorists?”