The West Bengal government aimed to float tenders by February for selecting an insurance company as the implementing agency for the second phase of roll out of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in April.
RSBY was rolled out in four districts of Burdwan, Malda, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore in 2008 but the process of distributing cards started only in Malda and Burdwan as of now.
"Nearly 4000 smart cards are being distributed by National Insurance Company or NIC everyday", claimed Trilochan Singh, principal secretary of the labour & employment department of the government of West Bengal.
NIC was selected the implementing agency for the RSBY in these four districts.
NIC would get a premium of Rs 500 for medical insurance from the state and central government, with the Centre giving around 75 per cent.
"Funds will be disbursed to the company as and when it submits data on distribution of smart cards. Cards in East Midnapore and North 24 Parganas would be distributed within the next two months", Singh said.
Nearly 12 lakh BPL families would be benefited in these districts.