Telangana announces new welfare scheme for toddy tappers: ₹5 lakh insurance cover

Gita Karmikula Bheema will be modelled on Rythu Bheema to help families of toddy tappers in the unfortunate event of their untimely death.

ByRaj Rayasam

Published May 02, 2023 | 10:40 PMUpdatedMay 02, 2023 | 10:42 PM

Telangana welfare scheme: KCR at the first review meeting held at the new Secretariat. (Twitter)

With the Telangana Assembly elections not very far, the floodgates seem to have been thrown open for welfare schemes.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, on Tuesday, 2 May, announced the “Gita Karmikula Bheema” for the benefit of toddy tappers.

It will be modelled on Rythu Bheema to help the families of the toddy tappers in the unfortunate event of their untimely death.

Decision at the review meeting

Under the scheme, the family of the toddy tapper will get an insurance amount of ₹5 lakh.

The money would be credited to the account of the next of the tapper’s kin.

The chief minister asked officials to fine-tune the scheme and come up with detailed guidelines for its implementation.

He issued the instructions to the officials at a review meeting, which he chaired at the new Secretariat.

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The idea behind the scheme

The chief minister said that it was unfortunate that several toddy tappers had died after accidentally falling from trees.

It was the responsibility of the government to go to the rescue of the families of such toddy tappers, he said.

He added that though the state government was paying ex gratia to the families that lost their breadwinners, the financial help was sometimes taking time to reach them.

“To overcome this problem, it has been decided to model the Gita Karmikula Bheema on the lines of Rythu Bheema,” the chief minister said.

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