Gorakhpur: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday announced a hike in the daily duty allowance of Provincial Rakshak Dal (PRD) volunteers from Rs 500 to Rs 600 and launched a cashless healthcare scheme providing annual medical cover of up to Rs 5 lakh to personnel and their families.At the PRD personnel conference organized at Yogiraj Baba Gambhirnath Auditorium on Tuesday, CM Yogi distributed cashless medical facility cards to PRD volunteers and launched the ‘Mukhyamantri PRD Cashless Chikitsa Yojana’. He also laid the foundation stone, by pressing a button on the remote, for the multi-story PRD barracks to be constructed in Lucknow at a cost of around Rs 23 crore.Addressing the gathering, Yogi said that PRD volunteers, established in 1948, received a daily duty allowance of Rs 250 until 2019. In 2019, he increased it to Rs 375, and in 2022, it was increased to Rs 395. The allowance was increased again in 2025 and raised to Rs 500 per day.The CM said, “Now we are going to increase the allowance of PRD volunteers from Rs 500 to Rs 600 per day.” He said that over 75 years, the allowance for PRD personnel had remained at only Rs 250, whereas in just the past 8 years, it is going to increase from Rs 250 to Rs 600, an increase of more than 100 per cent.He said, “PRD volunteers play their role with dedication in assisting the police and administration in establishing the rule of law in Uttar Pradesh. Despite this, they did not get duty until 2017. Whereas today, when their importance has been recognised, there is a shortage of personnel for duty.”He stated that during disasters, the Maha Kumbh, Deepotsav, Rangotsav, traffic management, election duty, or any other task requiring assistance to the administration and police, PRD personnel have worked with discipline, dedication, and a spirit of service.“In recognition of the contribution, dedication and spirit of service of PRD volunteers to the progress of the state, the state govt is providing cashless treatment facilities to them and their family members. Under this, more than 31,000 PRD volunteers will receive free medical treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh at any govt or govt-impaneled hospital. This facility will be available every year. If the number of PRD personnel is considered in terms of their families on average basis, more than 1 lakh 55 thousand members will benefit from it,” he said.Minister of state (independent charge) for political pension, sainik welfare and Provincial Armed Guard, Somendra Tomar, said that PRD personnel are a strong foundation of peace, security and public service. Despite their important role, the PRD budget was only Rs 23 crore before 2017. Under CM Yogi Adityanath’s leadership, it was increased several times. Today, the PRD budget has reached Rs 543 crore.10 volunteers receive cashless medical cardsAt the Provincial Armed Guard conference, 10 volunteers received cashless medical cards from CM Yogi Adityanath. They included Ajay, Bhimsen, Dhirendra, and Umesh Kumar from Gorakhpur; Snehlata Rawat and Anamika Verma from Lucknow; Chanda Bharti from Kushinagar; Jai Singh from Mau; Mohd Shakir from Chandauli and Kishan Gupta from Varanasi.
