Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Wednesday announced a five-fold increase in the annual health insurance coverage available to each beneficiary family under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme.
The coverage will be raised from ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh, Vijay said while addressing the Legislative Assembly.
He said access to healthcare was a fundamental right and should not be limited to people who could afford expensive medical treatment.
The enhanced insurance limit is part of a set of measures aimed at improving the state’s healthcare system and ensuring that people are not denied quality treatment because of financial or geographical constraints.
Vijay also announced a support package for all 234 members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
Under the new arrangement, every MLA will be provided with a government vehicle for travel within their constituency and for attending to public grievances.
The Chief Minister said legislators regularly travelled across their constituencies to meet residents, inspect development projects and coordinate with government officials. Official vehicles, he added, would help them perform these duties more efficiently and support transparent, corruption-free governance.
The government noted that several members of the current Assembly were first-time legislators, while some came from financially modest backgrounds. According to Vijay, such MLAs might not have the personal resources or logistical support needed to travel extensively and carry out their responsibilities.
The decision followed a request from VCK MLA Jothimani, who told the Assembly that legislators required adequate logistical assistance to function effectively and urged the government to provide them with vehicles.
In addition to the vehicle, each MLA will receive a monthly allowance of ₹75,000 towards the expenses of a driver, fuel and maintenance.
The government will also provide a monthly grant of ₹25,000 to each legislator to appoint a secretary. The secretary will assist with constituency correspondence and other official responsibilities.
The measures are expected to strengthen the functioning of constituency offices and enable MLAs to respond more quickly to public complaints.
The government has not yet disclosed the total expenditure involved in providing vehicles and allowances to all 234 legislators. It also did not specify when the benefits would be implemented.
(Inputs from IANS)