Agartala, Apr 20 (PTI) Tripura government on Wednesday announced health insurance of Rs three lakh a year for accredited journalists in the state.

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The health insurance will be on 80:20 basis. Eighty per cent will be borne by the government and the rest twenty per cent will be contributed by the beneficiary, state Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Sushanta Chowdhury said.

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An accredited journalist aged between 21 and 65 is eligible for being enlisted in the scheme, which has been named Tripura Journalists' Health Insurance Scheme - 2022, he said.

The state has 177 accredited journalists at present and 250 more have applied for getting accreditation cards.

“The council of ministers today approved a proposal for introducing a health insurance scheme for the accredited journalists working in Tripura ... Today's decision has proved the BJP-IPFT government is media friendly and has kept Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb's promise”, the minister said.

“We are hoping to make it functional by the next two months so that accredited journalists get the benefit at the earliest”, he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)