Official visits to help kin of Covid victims in Delhi

NEW DELHI: Under Mukhyamantri Covid-19 Parivar Aarthik Sahayata Yojana, Delhi government has provided one-time financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to families of more than 5,000 people who have succumbed to Covid-19 in the national capital. The government is now ensuring that every family affected by a Covid-19 death is aware of the scheme. It is also assisting them in applying for financial aid.
From Saturday, the government started reaching out to the affected families through its call centre.Also, a pool of around 3,300 officials of the revenue department would now visit the addresses of each of the 25,085 deceased people according to the list of health departments to inform their family members about the scheme and assist them in applying.
“To ensure that information regarding the scheme reaches all the affected families, Delhi government decided to use services of its call centre and the process of reaching out to all potential beneficiaries started today,” Delhi’s revenue minister Kailash Gahlot told TOI. The revenue department has also deployed 10 executive magistrates to guide the call centre executives on all days, including holidays, he said.
Gahlot said that 3,300 revenue officials at SDM level were already deployed for home visits for verification and collection of documents, if needed. “Delhi government has now decided that the officials will also visit the address of each person who has succumbed to Covid-19 to inform the family about the scheme and assist them in filing the application form,” he said, adding that they have been directed to complete the exercise within seven days.
“I recently met some affected people who were not aware of the scheme. Then I understood that in the event of a death, the family is in mourning for a long time and we should reach out to them,” the minister said.
Apart from the one-time financial assistance, families that lost a breadwinner are also provided a monthly pension of Rs 2,500 each. The state government had received 10,436 applications under the scheme till September 17, out of which more than 5,000 applicants have received Rs 50,000 each and 1,188 beneficiaries are receiving Rs 2,500 under the monthly assistance scheme.