Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday urged government officials appointed as surveyors to establish a relationship with families who had lost near and dear ones to COVID-19 in the process of providing financial relief to them.
₹50,000 to each family
Mr. Kejriwal said this while launching the ‘Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Pariwar Aarthik Sahayata Yojna’, a social security scheme for COVID-19-affected families here on Tuesday.
Under the scheme, Delhi government will disburse an ex gratia payment of ₹50,000 for each death to the family of the deceased and ₹2,500 monthly to those families who have lost breadwinners.
“The entire country may have seen two waves, but as for Delhi, this was the fourth wave. It was very severe, it was very widespread, almost every family was affected by it. Secondly, it was very lethal; we lost a lot of lives, a lot of children became orphans, a lot of families lost their breadwinners. There’s no one to look after them now,” he said.
“As a responsible and sensitive government, it is our duty to stand with these grieving families and provide them all the assistance we can. After a lot of discussions with our officers and the people of Delhi, we are launching the ‘Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Pariwar Aarthik Sahayata Yojna’,” the CM said, while launching the scheme.
No questions would be asked, Mr. Kejriwal assured, if the person died because of COVID-19 and the affected family would receive ₹50,000.
Additionally, he said, ₹2,500 would be disbursed monthly to those families who had lost their breadwinners to the pandemic; children who were orphaned would be provided ₹2,500 monthly till they turn 25, Mr. Kejriwal said.
Two options to register
“There are two options. First, families can register on the portal themselves. Second, a Delhi government representative will visit their homes. As a responsible and sensitive government, we will not wait for people to apply, we will approach them on our own as well,” he said.
There would not be any scrutiny.
“The representatives are not going to these homes to scrutinise the documents of these grieving families. If any documents are missing, it is the responsibility of the representatives and the government to make them available without putting pressure on the grieving families,” he said.
Referring to government representatives who will be collecting applications, the Chief Minister asked them to be empathetic and understanding towards these families. He also requested them not to put them under stress because of any missing papers as they were already going through a lot.
“We have to make sure that these families receive their dues swiftly as they are relying on it and there is no one to look after them right now. Reassure the families, be empathetic, tell them we have been personally sent by the CM,” he said.