Delhi CM Kejriwal announces Rs 50,000 compensation, Rs 2,500 monthly allowance to families of Covid-19 victims

The Delhi government on Tuesday launched a social security scheme and a portal to provide financial assistance to families who lost their loved ones to COVID-19.

Addressing the media, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that under the 'Mukhyamantri COVID-19 Pariwar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana', the city government will provide financial assistance to families of Covid-19 victims. He said that Rs 50,000 will be given to each family that has lost a member to Covid-19. Besides, monthly assistance of Rs 2,500 will be given if the deceased were an earning member.

Under this policy, he said that children who have lost both parents, or single parent, due to Covid-19 will also be provided monthly assistance of Rs 2,500 up to the age of 25 years. The monthly assistance, however, will stop once they turn 25. Also, the government will take care of their education, he said.

"Many children were orphaned, many families lost their sole breadwinner. In such a case, being a responsible government, we conceptualised this scheme. We are launching a portal through which such people can apply for financial assistance. Our representatives will also visit such families and get applications filled up," he said.

The Chief Minister said such representatives will not reject claims of families in case any document is missing and will only facilitate the process.

"I want to tell all such representatives not to conduct scrutiny of applications. If the families lack any document, we will help them obtain it. We have to make sure that we make this happen. Don't find faults with their documents... don't make them unhappy, encourage them," Kejriwal said.

"We have to ensure that we provide financial assistance to such families as soon as possible," he added.

The Health Department will share the list of Covid deaths with the Department of Social Welfare and verification will be done subsequently.