Group personal accident cover for permanent J&K government employees is going from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore under a five-year agreement between the Finance Department and J&K Bank, signed on October 23 in Srinagar.
What the agreement provides
The MoU was signed by Ashutosh Sareen, Chief General Manager (Credit), J&K Bank, and Mohd Youqub Ittoo, Director General (Resources), Finance Department, in the presence of Financial Commissioner Shailendra Kumar and J&K Bank MD and CEO Amitava Chatterjee. The reported cover, subject to terms and conditions:
- Group personal accident: Rs 1 crore
- Air accident: Rs 1.35 crore
- Permanent total disability: Rs 75 lakh; permanent partial disability: Rs 55 lakh
- Air ambulance: Rs 10 lakh
- Education assistance on an employee's death: Rs 8 lakh (male child) or Rs 10 lakh (girl child); marriage assistance for a girl child: up to Rs 10 lakh
Banking benefits for permanent employees include zero-balance accounts, a 25-basis-point concession on applicable personal-loan rates, waived processing fees on personal, auto, housing and education loans, overdrafts up to Rs 6 lakh (capped at six months' salary) and collateral-free education loans up to Rs 10 lakh for employees' children. Mr Kumar said the agreement “brings meaningful benefits through enhanced insurance protection”.
What the daily-wagers' forum says
The government has told the Legislative Assembly that 1,00,501 casual, daily-rated and other non-regular workers are registered across departments, including 38,585 in Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control and 13,616 in Power Development. In June 2026 J&K Bank introduced a separate Rs 5 lakh group accident cover for eligible daily-rated, contractual and casual workers.
Sajad Parry, President of the Jammu Kashmir Daily Wagers Forum, said: “The government has not covered daily wagers under the enhanced insurance scheme.” He said the regularisation demand also remains unmet “despite repeated promises”.
The reports we found carry no government or J&K Bank response to this criticism. The suggestion of a supplementary agreement or separate scheme for non-regular workers comes from the news article, not from officials.
How the cover has moved
- May 2020: about 12,000 Power Development Department daily wagers received comparable cover.
- June 2022: regular employees and daily wagers each received Rs 15 lakh.
- August 2023: regular employees' cover rose to Rs 25 lakh; daily wagers were excluded from the increase.
Why it matters to a young job-seeker
Many young Jammu residents work on contract or daily-wage terms before a permanent post, if one comes. This agreement applies to permanent staff only; the cover available to non-regular staff is the separate Rs 5 lakh scheme.
Sources: Greater Kashmir, October 24, 2026; Greater Kashmir, October 26, 2026.
