Puri Jagannath Temple priests to get health insurance cover

The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has decided to provide health insurance cover to the all the priests performing various rituals at the shrine throughout the year. SJTA chief Administrator Krishan Kumar held a meeting in presence of other temple officials and servitors and approved the resolution.

Through a tweet, SJTA informed that the temple authorities have joined hands with the New India Assurance to provide health insurance coverage for all the sevaks of Shree Jagannath temple. As many as 2,500 sevak families will get the benefits from the approved insurance scheme.

The initiative will provide a basic coverage of Rs. 2 lakh per family and an additional cover of Rs. 1 lakh for critical illness. The health insurance scheme will also provide an additional sum of Rs. 3 lakh for up to 25 servitors or their family members for treatment of cancer and kidney transplantation.

Health insurance coverage was a long-standing demand of the servitors. The administration had recommended the Odisha Law Department to fix modalities for health insurance for the servitors.