Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath on Thursday said the Covid-19 situation in the state was "scary", and demanded that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government provide an assistance of ₹4 lakh each to the families of those who died of the viral infection.
In a letter to Chouhan, Nath noted that over six lakh Covid-19 cases have been reported in the state so far since its outbreak last year and a large number of people have died due to the disease.
"The coronavirus situation in the state has turned scary," the senior Congress leader said.
Many families have become helpless and have no source of income now as their head or earning members have succumbed to the viral infection, the leader of opposition in the state Assembly said.
He said there is a provision in the state that in the event of natural calamities, the kin of each victim are provided an assistance of ₹4 lakh under the revenue book rule 6(4).
"Therefore, fatalities due to Covid-19 should also be treated as deaths due to natural calamity. For this, it is necessary to amend this rule so that the family of a person who died of Covid-19 can be extended an assistance of ₹4 lakh to mitigate their problems," Nath said.
{{/usCountry}}"Therefore, fatalities due to Covid-19 should also be treated as deaths due to natural calamity. For this, it is necessary to amend this rule so that the family of a person who died of Covid-19 can be extended an assistance of ₹4 lakh to mitigate their problems," Nath said.
{{/usCountry}}This will help a large number of families whose head or earning members have died due to Covid-19, he added.
On Wednesday, Madhya Pradesh reported 12,319 new Covid-19 cases and 71 fatalities, raising the infection count to 6,24,985 and the death toll to 6,074, as per official figures.