Punjab's Cooperation Department gives insurance cover of Rs 25 lakh to all its employees

Cooperation Department of Punjab government has decided to provide an insurance cover of Rs 25 lakh to all its officers and employees, who are on the frontline in the war against COVID-19.

This insurance will cover all regular, contractual and outsourced employees, who are currently working day and night to provide essential services to the people during the curfew/lockdown imposed in view of the COVID-19 crisis, said Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa in a press statement.

Randhawa said that 14,905 officers/employees of five cooperative institutions -- Sugarfed, Milkfed, Markfed, Punjab State Cooperative Bank and Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank -- are working as the frontline warriors and would be covered with insurance of Rs 25 lakh per employee for one year.

The premium will be Rs 1,977 per employee including GST. The total cost of the premium for insurance of all 14,905 employees would be around Rs 2.95 crore (Rs 2,94,67,185). The amount of premium will be paid by the concerned cooperative institution according to the number of its employees.

Giving details of all the employees, the Cooperation Minister said that out of the total 14,905 officers/employees of the five Cooperative Institutions, 8,812 are regular and 6,093 are contractual and outsourced.

2,090 employees of Sugarfed, 6,298 employees of Milkfed, 1,421 employees of Markfed, 4,217 employees of Punjab State Cooperative Bank and 879 employees of Punjab State Cooperative Agricultural Development Bank would be insured.

Randhawa said that in this hour of crisis, the entire cooperative department is working on the frontline to provide essential services to the people and farmers of the state. He said that in view of the risk to the employees, it has been decided to provide this insurance cover.

( With inputs from ANI )