After Delhi CM's push, Covid relief reaches victims' families

NEW DELHI: After strict measures were taken by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal last week regarding the pendency in implementation of 'Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Parivaar Arthik Sahayata Yojana', the families of most of the people who lost their lives due to coronavirus have received financial help. Around 89% of the victims' families have received ex-gratia of Rs 50,000.The remaining victims' families will also get this amount by Wednesday.
CM Kejriwal reviewed the scheme on Friday and commended the officers for working round the clock to help the bereaved families. CM also directed the officials to complete the disbursal of the monthly pension of Rs 2,500 rupees to all the beneficiaries within a week as well and register those who have not been registered yet.
CM was informed that the monthly pension of 86 per cent of the applicants registered so far has been started.
In a meeting on October 1, CM Kejriwal expressed strong displeasure over the pendency of applications in the implementation of the scheme and directed officials concerned to disburse the amount families of Covid-19 victims have claimed at the earliest.
In the last week out of the applications received for one-time assistance, 14,605 applications have been verified online and by visiting homes. Out of these verified applications, a one-time assistance amount of Rs 50 thousand has been transferred to the bank account of 13,005 people. Officials said that there are 2,196 families which have voluntarily backed out of the scheme.
The officials said that the work of providing a monthly pension to the victims is going on rapidly but some applicants haven’t been able to register on the online portals to avail the scheme.
CM had issued directions to the officials to expedite the process and disburse the amount to all the victims in the verified list immediately. “Do whatever it takes, make the process simpler and more accessible. Use whichever resource you require but make sure each and every person register and starts receiving the pension at the earliest,” CM said, and asked the officials to increase the registration for the monthly pension and contact those who have not yet registered for the monthly pension.
Families of people who have died due to Covid in their house can apply in two ways to take benefit from the scheme. One, they can apply on the portal themselves or second, where Delhi government officials themselves will visit the victim's home and get the registration done.
Under the scheme, financial help is being provided in two ways to the families. First, one-time financial help and second, monthly pension. Under one-time financial assistance, a lump sum amount of Rs 50,000 is being given to the family of every person who lost their life due to corona. Whereas under monthly pension, Rs 2,500 pension is being given to the dependents of the deceased every month. Apart from this, children whose parents have died due to corona or one of the parents had died earlier and the other has died of corona and the children have become orphans, will be looked after by the Kejriwal government. They will be given 2500 per month till the age of 25 years. The government aims to provide financial help to the family of every person who lost their life due to Covid.