Nearly 3,000 Indian Railway employees died due to covid-19
Premium- The government has given jobs to eligible family members of the dead on compassionate grounds in 1,931 of the total railway staff deaths
NEW DELHI: Indian Railway lost 2,952 employees to covid-19, and at least 157,496 staff tested positive for the virus, according to Union government data, reflecting how the pandemic affected the human resource of the national transporter.
Of the staff who have died, in 1,931 cases the government has given jobs to their eligible family members on compassionate grounds.
“Out of a total of 1,57,496 cases found covid positive after RTPCR test, 2,952 railway employees have died due to corona disease. As per records available, 98 of the 2,952 deceased railway employees had taken corona vaccine," according to Indian Railway.
Indian Railways said it has a considerate approach towards its employees and there is a policy for giving appointment on compassionate ground to dependents of railway servants who lose their lives in the course of duty or die in harness or are medically incapacitated.
Dependents of family members of Railway employees who lost their life to covid-19 are covered under the scheme of compassionate ground appointment, the rail ministry has informed the Parliament.
The ministry said that “out of a total of 2,952 cases of deaths due to corona disease, settlement dues have been paid to the families of the deceased Railway employees in 2,857 cases and compassionate appointment has been provided in 1,931 cases."
India is in the grip of the covid-19 pandemic, but is gradually coming out of it. The second wave of the pandemic hit the country hard during April and May and left lakhs of people dead. Since, the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 in the country, official statistics claims that 423,810 have died as of 30 July 2021 and almost 31 million are infected.
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