Jammu and Kashmir announces relief measures for families of those who lost loved ones due to COVID

Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Tuesday announced a slew of measures to mitigate the suffering of families who have lost their loved ones to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lt Governor said that senior citizens who have lost the only earning member of their family will be provided a special pension for life while children, who have lost their parents to the calamity, will be provided with special scholarship by the government.

"Many of our near and dear ones have left us untimely due to COVID-19 The Government has decided to reach out to each and every such family and they will be provided with financial assistance for self-employment by the Jammu and Kashmir Bank," the Lt Governor said. The Lt Governor also observed that the global pandemic has rendered thousands of daily workers jobless. "The Government has decided to provide Rs 1,000 per month to all registered construction workers, ponywalas, palkiwalas, pithuwalas for the next two months", maintained the Lt Governor.

The government is also adopting other mitigation strategies and all concerned officers have been directed to ensure the supply of ration to all ration card holders on priority. Installments of social welfare schemes like old-age pension, Laadli Beti etc and PMAY, MGNREGA, and other welfare schemes will be released immediately," the Lt Governor further added. Announcing these measures while chairing a high-level meeting, the Lt Governor said that in these challenging times, old-age homes, Orphanages will be extended all the support from the government including rations etc.

"Our top-most priority is to defeat this pandemic with people's participation. I urge all of you to follow COVID appropriate behaviour and get vaccinated. We will soon prevail together over this pandemic," the Lt Governor said. The Lt Governor also observed that an instruction would be passed soon to all DCs to issue death certificates to the people who died due to COVID-19 disease.

Sinha said that Rs 55 crore would be released under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to all the Deputy Commissioners, both Divisional Commissioners and J&K Police for emergency use during the current COVID-19 crisis. Rs 2 crore will be released to all 20 Deputy Commissioner, Rs 5 crore to both Divisional Commissioners and Rs 5 crore to J&K Police for emergency use under the SDRF.