According to a new notification issued by the Chief Minister's Office, the poor would now be able to get an assistance of up to Rs 1 lakh for medical care, nearly 20-fold increase from earlier such assistance of Rs 5,000. This assistance shall be paid on the nature of the disease and its seriousness.
"We have amended the Uttarakhand Chief Minister Discretionary Fund guidelines 2014 and accordingly, the scope of the funding has been liberalised," a senior government official told Business Standard.
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For handicaps, the destitute, persons from weaker section and widows who have no financial support, the assistance has been doubled to Rs 10,000 from Rs 5,000.
For registered social and cultural organisations except those engaged in religious and caste-based programmes, the assistance has been increased by 10 folds, to Rs 50,000. Earlier, such assistance was available to unregistered organisations also.
In case, the breadwinner of a poor family is killed in a heinous crime, the family can avail an assistance of Rs 50,000, instead of Rs 20,000 earlier.
However, the chief minister will have the discretion of doubling such assistances also in exceptional cases and in other cases such funds can also be given up to Rs 2 lakh.
Last year, Chief Minister Harish Rawat had rejected a demand by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of legislative Assembly (MLAs) for a separate quota for MLAs from the chief minister's discretionary fund. Replying to a debate in the state Assembly, Rawat had said only the needy people have the right to get money from the chief minister's discretionary fund and not the MLAs. However, BJP MLA Madan Kaushik had alleged the ruling MLAs were being given money from the discretionary quota.