Govt announces slew of sops for journalists

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Bhubaneswar: The state government Thursday announced a slew of welfare measures for working journalists of Odisha.
Briefing mediapersons here, Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Minister Pratap Jena said Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has approved a lot of schemes for the welfare of the working journalists of the state. The departments concerned and officials have been asked to implement the order of the CM with immediate effect.
The state government will provide compensation of Rs 4 lakh to the next kin of a journalist if the latter dies on duty. Besides, it will provide compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the family of the working journalist if he is seriously ill or has become physically disabled, said Jena.
The state government has also decided to provide financial assistance to the children of the deceased journalists, he said, adding, a monthly assistance of Rs 1500 would be provided for the education of the children up to Class X while Rs 2500 would be provided every month for higher education.
Besides, the government will provide a maximum house building loan of Rs 25 lakh with a 3 per cent rebate on the interest amount, while those willing to purchase a four-wheeler and two-wheeler would be provided loans of Rs 4 lakh and Rs 50,000 respectively. Those availing vehicle loans will also get 3 per cent interest subvention. The interest subventions will be released annually after repayment of regular instalments with interest by the loanee journalists.
The government will also provide financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per journalist going for skill enhancement programmes in institutions like Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). It may be mentioned that so far 3,233 working journalists have been registered for health insurance under the Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthyabima Yojana. This scheme has come into effect from June 1 this year. Top up financial assistance will be provided with the approval of Directorate of Medical Education and Training (DMET) in addition to health insurance benefit in case of critical illness like kidney and heart diseases where expenditure exceeds Rs 2 lakh, the minister added.
According to sources, the benefits will be provided as per the Odisha Working Journalists Welfare Fund Rules-2006. At present the corpus fund has a balance of Rs 12.54 crore.