Labour welfare officials at a workshop in Ranchi. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi, Dec. 29: Unrecognised sector workers, belonging to the BPL category, will now have to spend just Rs 30 for a smart card and they can avail free medical services up to Rs 30,000 for their five dependents.

The initiative to speed up generation and distribution of smart cards across the state started today as Jharkhand State Labour Welfare Society enlightened government officials, organising a state level workshop in the capital.

Director-general of Union labour welfare department, Anil Swaroop, and World Bank representative Sumita Chopra were also present to make the government officials aware of various aspects of the scheme, popularly known as Rastriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY).

Smart cards are prepared under RSBY on the payment of Rs 30 as registration or renewal fee by each beneficiary. Union government pays 75 per cent of the premium and state pays 25 per cent of the same to insurance company for the service.

Representatives of Cholamandalam MS General Insurance and Oriental Insurance Company, authorised by the state for the RSBY, were also present. They enlightened state officials about the nitty-gritty of the scheme.

Labour commissioner Aradhana Patnaik set a three-month deadline for the project. Fast distribution of the cards will benefit more and more people. “We will start our work the first week of January and complete it by the end of March,” Patnaik said.

Last year, 3,94,260 families in six districts — Garhwa, Ranchi, Khunti, Deoghar, West Singhbhum and Dhanbad — were covered while the this year’s target is to reach out around 25 lakh families across the state.

Executive director of Jharkhand State Labour Welfare Society A. Kumar added that around 14,000 people were benefited from the scheme last year and insurance company paid more than Rs 3 crore to different government and private hospitals, which were empanelled under the scheme.