Cashless treatment facilities upto Rs 1.5L for Central Forces’ personnel on poll duty in state

Kolkata: Personnel of the Central Forces from outside Bengal who have been deployed and will be engaged in poll duty in the state during the Lok Sabha polls will be allowed to avail medical treatment at private hospitals as per the norms of The West Bengal Health for All Employees and Pensioners Cashless Medical Treatment Scheme 2014.

Cashless treatment facilities upto Rs 1.5 lakh will be available for the personnel of the Central Force. The Central Forces officials engaged for the purpose of by-elections in two Assembly constituencies namely Bhagwangola (Murshidabad) and Baranagar will also be covered.

The state Home and Hill Affairs department has issued a notification regarding the issue and has also listed all the 69 private hospitals which will offer benefits under the scheme. “The state government will make arrangements for transportation, logistics, accommodation and other arrangements necessary for the deployment of the Central Forces. This time, the state government will make medical facilities available to all personnel of such forces in case they fall sick or meet with any accident or sustain injury in some incident while being deployed in the state for election duty,” a Nabanna official said. The Election Commission of India will be deploying 920 companies of Central Forces for Bengal elections among which 100 companies have already reached the state. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the Central Forces received Rs 1 lakh cashless treatment under the scheme. The benefit was enhanced last year and hence the Central Forces will get Rs 1.5 lakh this time.