More than 50,000 Delhi Jal Board pensioners and family pensioners will receive cashless healthcare under a new facility launched by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, removing the need for beneficiaries to pay medical expenses upfront and later seek reimbursement.
The facility, introduced under the Delhi government’s Seva Sankalp Abhiyan, will provide cashless treatment and medical tests through a single-window system. The government said the arrangement is intended to simplify access to healthcare and reduce the paperwork faced by retired DJB employees and their families.
Launching the initiative, Gupta said the earlier process required pensioners to first bear the cost of treatment and then apply for reimbursement. She said this could be particularly difficult for elderly beneficiaries. “Pensioners will now be spared the burden of paying from their own pockets and going through lengthy reimbursement procedures for treatment,” she said.
The chief minister said the government had faced challenges while implementing the new system but had worked to resolve them. She said the objective was not merely to launch schemes but to create systems that make people’s lives easier. Gupta also described the facility as recognition of the contribution made by retired DJB employees who had served Delhi.
Delhi Water Minister Parvesh Sahib Singh said the single-window mechanism would ensure that retired employees did not have to navigate cumbersome paperwork to access medical care. “Delhi Jal Board employees spent their entire lives serving Delhiites, now it is our responsibility to look after their healthcare,” he said.
According to Singh, more than 50,000 pensioners and family pensioners will benefit from the initiative. He said the facility represented both a medical service and an institutional responsibility towards employees who had contributed to providing water and sewer services to households across the city.
The launch places administrative ease at the centre of the healthcare arrangement. Under the previous system described by the government, pensioners had to manage the immediate financial burden of treatment before pursuing reimbursement. The new model is intended to shift that burden away from beneficiaries and provide a more direct route to treatment and medical tests.
The initiative is part of the wider Seva Sankalp Abhiyan and is aimed at improving healthcare access for retired DJB employees and their families. The government said the system would make medical care more convenient and dignified, although details such as the list of empanelled healthcare providers, the operating procedure for beneficiaries and the mechanism for handling disputed claims were not provided in the announcement.
Delhi Jal Board Vice Chairman and MLA Satish Upadhyay, Municipal Corporation of Delhi Mayor Pravesh Wahi, Delhi government Principal Secretary Rajeev Verma, DJB Chief Executive Officer Sajjan Singh Yadav, board members and senior officials attended the launch. The government’s next step is to operationalise the cashless, single-window facility for eligible pensioners and family pensioners.
