Rehmatunnisa Begum (name changed), wife of a construction worker who died in an accident, is seen making rounds in the corridors of the Labour Department in the city. She hasn’t received the insurance amount yet. The officials, however, deny it assertively.
It may sound surprising but the fact is that both of them are correct. The officials have paid the insurance claim through a cheque. But the amount was not deposited in her bank account for a technical reason: amount exceeding Rs.50,000 cannot be deposited in the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMDJDY) accounts.
“The Central government has set an upper limit of Rs.50,000 for deposits in PMJDY accounts. The nominee will get Rs.5 lakh in case of accidental death of a worker. As the insurance amount is many times higher than the limit, it is a fit case for bankers to transfer the funds to the nominee’s account,” explains a senior official, speaking anonymously.
Begum is not the only woman who encountered this problem. The department officials, on average, receive 15 to 20 complaints of similar nature every month. And, it is a Herculean task to settle these cases, he says.
The Labour Department processes claims anywhere between 200 and 300 every month in the State. It includes natural and accidental death claims, maternity, marriage, hospitalisaiton and stipend schemes. The problem crops up only with accidental death in view of the big amount involved.
Audit objections
A lot of complex issues are associated with such complaints. The officials would have to face audit objections if a cheque was issued for the second time to the same person though the claim was not transferred.
The balance sheet reflects excess amount whenever the banker returns a claim, which is another case for audit objection, said another official.
Take for instance, the Labour Department, Krishna district, which received Rs.99.99 lakh from the Board in November 2016. The balance touched Rs.172.28 crore, including existing balance.
The officials settled 393 claims worth Rs.1.34 crore. Of the total claims, 17 worth Rs.12 lakh were returned by the bankers. So, it took the total balance to Rs.49.78 lakh, while the actual balance has to be Rs.37.8 lakh.
The government did not anticipate this problem when the insurance applications were seeded with zero balance/PMJDY accounts.
The government introduced the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme to disburse the insurance claims to bypass the community leaders, union leaders and middlemen. As part of it, the bank account details were incorporated in applications submitted under AP building and other workers insurance scheme, explain officials.
