Honouring the sacrifices of Covid Warriors, the Delhi Government has decided to provide an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore to two more coronavirus warriors' families who lost their lives while serving people during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said here on Friday.
He also informed the State Government has, so far, provided an honorarium of Rs 1 crore to the families of 92 coronavirus warriors.
The ex-gratia in the latest instance will be given to the families of Corona Warriors, Satpal, who was a Nursing Orderly Corona Warrior at the Delhi Health Department and Constable Amit Kumar of the Delhi Police. They succumbed to the virus while on COVID duty.
The Chief Minister said Delhi is the only State in the country that honors the families of the COVID warriors who lost their lives while serving people during the pandemic.
Addressing a news conference, Kejriwal said during the time of COVID, we witnessed how much people suffered. At that time, there were many coronavirus warriors who risked their lives to serve the people of Delhi.
The Chief Minister mentioned that a recent Cabinet meeting took place in which two more names of COVID warriors were included for this list of corona warriors. One of them is Satpal, who worked as a Nursing Orderly. He was stationed at the District Medical Store in Saket, which was a high-risk area. Satpal used to send medicines to 40 dispensaries in Delhi, where thousands of healthcare workers and patients relied on those medicines. While on active duty, he contracted COVID and unfortunately lost his life on November 28, 2020.
Similarly, there's Constable Amit Kumar of the Delhi Police.
He was posted at Bharat Nagar Police Station. During the lockdown, his duty was in the highly risk-prone containment zone around Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital. Hundreds of infected patients were coming into this area, making it an extremely sensitive region.
Despite the risks, he continued to serve the people of Delhi without concern for his own life. During his duty, he also contracted COVID. On May 5, 2020, Amit Kumar lost his life.
The Delhi Government has already granted Rs 1 crore each to the families of 92 COVID warriors. These COVID warriors were deployed in different departments.
This includes 52 from the Delhi government's Health Department, 17 from the MCD, 7 from the Education Department, 5 from the DTC, 2 from the Delhi Police, 4 from Civil Defence Volunteers, as well as one staff from Home Guards, NSUT, DSIDC, Delhi Cantonment Board, and the Ministry of Defence. Out of the 17 COVID warriors from the MCD, 10 are doctors and medical staff, 4 are teachers, and 3 are sanitation workers, and their families will receive an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore each.
