Family pension for COVID-19: Bihar govt launches special scheme for its employees fighting Coronavirus

Along with the ‘special family pension’ initiative, the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has taken 29 more decisions.

Facing stern criticism from the opposition parties over its handling of the coronavirus situation in the state, the Bihar government has introduced a ‘special family pension’ initiative for its employees. The move will aid the dependents of people who were working with the state government and died of COVID-19 in line of duty.

Cabinet Secretariat Department’s Special Secretary Mithilesh Kumar Singh has outlined the details of the special family pension program launched by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in the state. As per the release from the state government, the family members of government staff who have died or will lose their lives of COVID-19 while on duty will be given the two options to choose from as compensation from the government. They can either accept the benefit of a job along with other benefits under the scheme or they can opt for a full salary every month in the name of ‘special family pension’ till the retirement time of the employee who died due to COVID-19.

The viability period of the scheme has been dated back to April 1 2020 to cover the families of government staff who have lost lives before the launch of this initiative and will be in effect till March 31, 2021

Along with the ‘special family pension’ initiative, the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has taken 29 more decisions that include 11 legislative decisions. The 11 decisions pertaining to the legislative matter of the state will be tabled in the state legislative assembly during the four-day Monsoon session starting August 3.

Meanwhile, Bihar’s COVID-19 tally reached 36,314 on July 25 with an addition of 2,803 new cases which is the biggest single-day spike in the state. The death toll in Bihar due to the coronavirus outbreak has reached 232 with 11 more people dying in the last 24 hours leading up to the evening of July 25.