Kolkata, March 12 – At the request of Bengali superstar and Trinamool Congress MP Deepak Adhikari, alias Dev, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday that arrangements would be made to provide benefits to the technicians in the industry.
Earlier on Thursday, Deepak Adhikari shared a copy of a letter he had written to the Chief Minister on his social media accounts, in which he requested Mamata Banerjee to include the technicians in the state government's "Swasthya Sathi" (health) scheme.
The Chief Minister has accepted Adhikari's request. As a result, all the technicians in the Bengali entertainment industry will now be covered under the Swasthya Sathi scheme.
The Bengali actor-turned-politician, in his post on X, said, "I am grateful that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has honoured my request to allow the more than 7,000 hardworking technicians of the Bengali film industry to avail the Swasthya Sathi scheme."
The Trinamool Congress MP also wrote, "A registration camp will be held on March 17 at the Technicians Studio. I request all the technicians to kindly attend and register themselves under the state government scheme to avail its benefits."
In his letter to Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari had stated that more than 7,000 technicians work for The Federation of Cine Technicians and Workers of Eastern India (FCTWEI).
Previously, the technicians were covered by the state government's Rs 5 lakh mediclaim scheme. However, this facility has now been discontinued.
As a result, the technicians and their families are now deprived of health security.
Many of the technicians had told Deepak Adhikari that they were not even covered under the Swasthya Sathi scheme, which prompted him to request the Chief Minister to organize a camp at the Technicians Studio, so that the technicians could register themselves under this scheme.
Deepak Adhikari sent this letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on March 7.
The Chief Minister has requested Deepak Adhikari to organize a camp at the Technicians Studio on March 17, where workers can register themselves for the Swasthya Sathi scheme by March 12.
Meanwhile, CM Banerjee inaugurated a new 10-story B.C. Roy Memorial Building at N.R.S. Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, to provide better patient care at the said hospital.
The total financial cost of this scheme is Rs 148 crore.
At the same time, the West Bengal University of Health Sciences has constructed a new building in Salt Lake, Kolkata, with a total financial cost of Rs 102.75 crore.
The building contains office accommodation as well as space for academic seminars and other important activities.