Ghaziabad admin starts special initiative for families who lost sole earning members to Covid

GHAZIABAD: Seventeen-year-old Suryansh Sharma lost his father to Covid-19 on May 11

GHAZIABAD: Seventeen-year-old Suryansh Sharma lost his father to Covid-19 on May 11. The schoolboy had no idea about necessary certificates required to get the insurance and other claims after his father’s death.

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“A lot of legal work was required to gather necessary certificates and other legal documents. But, it was the Ghaziabad administration that appointed a special officer to smoothen the process of paperwork. The officer not only fast-tracked all the clearances, the government officials came to our home directly to collect the papers. I got all the certificates on Monday. My mother is still recovering from the infection,” Suryansh said.

Similarly, 13-year-old Devesh Kumar, who lost his father on May 14, said that the dedicated officer of the district administration helped him complete all the formalities on Tuesday. “I’ll be getting the required certificates and documents tomorrow. I’ve no words of gratitude for the DM,” he said.

To help out the families who have lost their only earning members to the infection, the district administration has started a programme named ‘always with you’, in which one dedicated officer will be appointed as ‘prashasan mitra’ to such families.

Ghaziabad district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said that as many families have lost their only earning members to Covid-19, the district administration launched the initiative to reach out to the people in distress.

“Going to various offices to obtain the necessary nominee or heir certificates needed for claiming insurance money and pension funds, among others, is almost impossible for young children or women in the ongoing corona curfew. So, we decided to appoint one dedicated officer from the administration – ‘prashasan mitra’ -- to ease the process of obtaining necessary certificates,” Pandey said.

“The officer has to ensure that the staff of all departments concerned collect the necessary papers from the victim’s family. After that, it is the duty of that officer to deliver the requisite certificates to the dependants within a day or two,” he said.

The DM further said that to avail this benefit, the dependant of the family has to send an e-mail to alwayswithyoudmghaziabad@gmail.com, with their address and phone numbers. “After that, we’ll immediately appoint an officer for such families. The officer will have to ensure the delivery of all necessary certificates,” he said.