Delhi govt to pay ₹1 crore ex-gratia to 28 Covid warriors

The decision was taken in the meeting of a group of ministers chaired by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

The Delhi government on Tuesday sanctioned a compensation of ₹1 crore to the families of each of 28 Corona warriors who lost their lives in the line of duty during the Covid-19 pandemic. The decision was taken in the meeting of a group of ministers chaired by deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.

The state government has already provided ex-gratia compensation to the families of 31 Corona warriors.

“Corona warriors of Delhi worked selflessly during the pandemic and sacrificed their lives to protect humanity and society without caring for their own lives. Delhi government salutes their spirit. No amount can compensate for the loss of the family of the martyred corona warriors, but their family will definitely get a means to live a dignified life through this amount,” Sisodia said during the meeting.

Later CM Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “Today an amount of ₹1 crore each has been sanctioned for the families of each of 28 corona warriors who saved lakhs of lives, without caring about their own lives during COVID. The government stands with the families of corona warriors.”

During the pandemic the AAP government announced that it will provide ₹1 crore compensation to the kin of the frontline workers and healthcare workers who were working on the forefront to help others. The state government has already provided ex-gratia compensation to the families of 31 Corona warriors.

The government in a statement said the 28 Corona warriors include Ganesh Sah, OT Assistant, GTB Hospital who got infected while serving the patients in the red zone and succumbed to the virus on May 6, 2021; Satinder Hans, senior nursing officer, Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, who tested positive for Covid-19 on April 23, 2021, and died on April 30, 2021; Bhupinder Gupta, professor of medicine at Hindu Rao Hospital who got infected with the virus while looking after the serious Covid patients at Hindu Rao Hospital and succumbed to the virus on May 18, 2021; and Satnam Singh, civil defence volunteer at the Shahdara DM office who contracted the virus while being on duty and died on April 19, 2021 among others.