Lack of information; eligible deprived from facility

aaron, Oct 7, 2019, 12:26 PM IST

Udupi: Back in 2012, the state government had introduced Karnataka State Private Commercial Vehicle Drivers Accident Benefit Scheme with the aim to provide economic and social security to the labourers working in the unorganized sector. However, the eligible beneficiaries have remained deprived of this faculty due to lack of information.

There are more than 20,000 private commercial transport labourers in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada district combined. According to the labour department, only 14 families in Udupi and 12 families in DK district have applied and received the benefits of life insurance under the scheme. 14 students are also receiving scholarship for their education.

For whom is the scheme?

All auto rickshaw, car, bus, tempo commercial vehicle drivers and bus conductors from the age of 20 to 70 years are beneficiaries of this scheme. If in case, any of them either loses their life or gets injured in an accident, the government provides them compensation in form of insurance.

Conditions of the scheme

The condition to avail the benefits of the scheme is that the driver must possess the driver’s permit provided by the state transport department and the bus conductor of the private bus must have the conductor license badge provided by the respective RTO.

How to submit the application?

The application must be submitted within 6 months of the accident. An application may be directly submitted to the district labour department or council attached with the relevant documents including documents concerning treatment received as an out-patient, death certificate, autopsy report and FIR, commercial DL badge and bank account details of the nominee. However, the badge of the driver and the conductor must be in effect during the accident.

Facilities

If in case the driver/conductor loses his life in the accident, the nominee is given a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and in case, the beneficiary is permanently handicapped, a maximum compensation of Rs 2 lakh is provided. For those who have received treatment for 15 days after getting admitted into the hospital will get up to Rs 50,000 and for those exceeding 15 days will get up to Rs 1 lakh of the bill amount paid by the government.

Two children of the beneficiary who has been permanently crippled or lost his life in the accident will be provided with a scholarship for education from 1^st std to 12^th.

Information regarding the Karnataka State Private Commercial Vehicle Drivers Accident Benefit Scheme Is being provided to commercial transport vehicle driver/conductor. Earlier, the victim’s family was provided a compensation of RS 2 lakh under the scheme. Presently it has been increased to Rs 5 lakh – M Balakrishna, Labour Officer, Udupi, DK

Compensation deposited directly into the applicant’s bank account

Post the verification of the submitted documents, the compensation amount will be deposited directly into the bank account of the applicant. The application for the children’s scholarship can be submitted through the district labour officer.