E-Paper
Delhi govt’s scheme to provide financial aid to families of Covid-19 victims notified
New Delhi: The Delhi government’s scheme to provide financial assistance to families of those who died of Covid-19 was notified on Tuesday
New Delhi: The Delhi government’s scheme to provide financial assistance to families of those who died of Covid-19 was notified on Tuesday.
The scheme - Mukhya Mantri Covid-19 Pariwar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana - will offer a monthly financial assistance of ₹2,500 to the families of those who have lost their earning member and also a one-time compensation of ₹50,000 if a member has died due to Covid-19. These benefits will be in addition to the ongoing social welfare scheme of the Delhi government such as old-age pension and widow pension.
“The government will also consider a single member of the affected family to be enrolled as a civil defence volunteer. Besides these, the state affirms to look after the health and education needs of the dependent children as per the existing policy,” read the notification, a copy of which is with HT.
The notification also stated that if a family is survived by only minor children, then the applicant or beneficiary will be the foster parent or guardian who has been declared fir under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice Act by the Child Welfare Committee. The financial assistance shall be transferred to the joint bank account in the name of the minor child and the foster parent or guardian, it stated.
On June 20 (Sunday), HT reported that the Delhi government had issued the standard operating procedure (SOP) for family-based sponsorship of children who have either lost their parents or their guardians are not in a position to support them financially. With this, Delhi formally opened the system of child foster care or sponsorship, which was pending for nearly six years despite it being mandated under the Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2015.
Tuesday’s notification stated that to claim these financial assistance, the death must be certified as a “Covid death” as per the data with the Ministry of Home Affairs or the death should have happened within one month of testing Covid-19 positive. It stated that such deaths will also have to be verified by the state health department as a Covid death.