The Delhi government will provide Rs 50,000 ex-gratia to each family that has lost a member to Covid-19, besides a monthly assistance of Rs 2,500 if the deceased was an earning member, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced on Tuesday.
He also said that children who have lost both parents, or a single parent, due to Covid-19 will also be provided a monthly assistance of Rs 2,500 up to the age of 25 years. Also, the government will take care of their education, he said.
All these announcements will be implemented after they are approved by the Delhi Cabinet, he said.
“Due to coronavirus and the lockdown, many at home are facing financial difficulties. We have been thinking about a plan on how to help people overcome this difficulty. We have come up with several steps to provide relief during this tough time,” Kejriwal said in a digital address.
The Delhi Chief Minister also announced free rations to poor families struggling during the Covid-19 crisis and lockdown. He announced that all ration card holders will get 5 kilograms of ration for free from Delhi government as well as 5 kilograms of free ration from the Central government and for those without ration cards, Delhi government will give ration on demand. “If someone says they are poor, we will give ration without asking for income proof,” Kejriwal said.
“Many will ask where the government will get this money from. We are able to do this because Delhi has elected an honest government and we save money by being efficient,” Kejriwal said. He added that the decision would be implemented in the next few days.
On Kejriwal’s statement, BJP state General secretary Harsh Malhotra told The Sunday Guardian that “this government of Arvind Kejriwal is fond of making “populist” statements only and religiously not implementing it, like he said he will implement the Modi government’sAyushman Bharat Yojna, but he didn’t till today. If he had implemented it in Delhi, thousands of people would have saved their lives in this critical phase of Covid by getting themselves admitted in costly private hospitals. The Kejriwal government has done little to prepare Delhi’s health sector for Covid since last year despite a huge health budget to the tune of Rs 18,000crore. Kejriwal has spent hundreds of crores only in advertisements, promoting himself only. So I doubt whether he will fullfil his promises. He had promised Rs one crore to be given to the relatives of the frontline workers, if someone died during duty; no one has received Rs one crore.”