New Delhi, Sep 27 (PTI) A sanitation worker, gastroenterologist who died allegedly of oxygen shortage and civil defence volunteers are among the 28 corona warriors whose families will be given an ex-gratia amount of Rs one crore by the Delhi government.
Prior to this, the Delhi government had given a ‘Samman Rashi’ of Rs one crore to families of 31 corona warriors.
The decision was taken in the meeting of the group of ministers chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Tuesday.
On Monday, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hosted a lunch for a sanitation worker from Gujarat, with the opposition BJP and Congress calling it a “political stunt”.
BJP MLA and leader of opposition in Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri had said even the status of Corona warrior was not extended to sanitation workers during the pandemic.
“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,” Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said.
“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,” he added.
The meeting was also attended by Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot.
While tweeting about the Corona warriors, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said, “Today, an amount of Rs 1 crore each has been sanctioned for the families 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.” Sisodia said the COVID-induced pandemic was a terrible crisis for the entire humanity which inculcated fear in society but corona warriors in Delhi risked their lives to get Delhi out of this crisis.
“Thousands of corona warriors, including doctors, medical staff, support staff, and sanitation workers worked day and night to fight this unprecedented pandemic and many of them were martyred while serving the people,” he added.
One of the 28 corona warriors is Dr RK Himthani who was HoD, Department of Gastroenterology, Batra Hospital and Medical Research Centre.
He was serving the patients selflessly in the ICU and COVID wards of the hospital when the pandemic was at its peak, the statement said, adding that he was infected by the virus while on duty.
The hospital, at the time of the second wave of the pandemic, had said, he was one of 12 patients, who died due to a lack of oxygen supply on May 1 last year.
Rajender Pal, a sanitation worker at MCD-run Hindu Rao Hospital, used to handle the medical waste and keep the hospital clean. He got infected with COVID-19 while being on duty and succumbed to it later. Arun Kumar Rakshit, OSD to then Health Minister Satyendar Jain, was working during COVID to help the people coming to the minister’s camp office, and was coordinating with hospitals, and helping people to get timely healthcare services. During this, he helped hundreds of people, but while doing duty, he got infected and died in the second wave of the corona. PTI SLB RDT
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.