Journalists meet Bansal for continuation of CGHS

New Delhi, Jan 23 (UNI) A delegation of journalists today met Union Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal to protest the reported withdrawal of benefits to newspersons under the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS).

The group of newspersons, under the banner of 'Journalists Welfare Association, met Mr Bansal at his North Block office and demanded the continuation of the scheme, saying the subsidy requirement should be provided by the Finance Ministry.

The scheme covers 45 lakh people from different fields of which a mere 1250 were journalists, they said.

The journalists told the minister that they had been informed that their family members would be excluded from the scheme on the direction of the Finance Ministry.

Mr Bansal said his ministry had not made any move in this regard and assured the delegation that he would make all efforts for the continuation of benefits to them under the scheme, a release here said.

The delegation comprised senior journalists including Mr CK Nayak, Mr Arvind Kumar Singh, Mr Abhijit Roy Choudhry and Mr N N Verma.

It was decided that if the journalists' demand was not met, they would launch an agitation after January 26.

In this context, a CGHS Struggle Committee, led by Mr Arvind Kumar Singh, was also formed.

UNI RR MS AS1751