Congress demands proper compensation for Covid victims

In a bid to provide proper compensation to kith and kin of the person, who died due to Corona infection, Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) on Wednesday demanded the Central Government to give compensation to the families of those, who lost their lives during the Corona period.

Addressing a press meet at the party headquarters in the State Capital Congress Legislature Party Leader and Rural Development Minister in the State Government, Alamgir Alam said that under the National Disaster Act, 75 per cent of the compensation amount is given by the Central Government and 25 per cent is given by the State Government. “The Jharkhand Government is ready to give Rs 1 lakh, but the Center is not willing to provide the rest of the money. The Central Government is saying that it will give only Rs 50,000 after declaring Rs 4 lakh previously,” he added.

“The State Government is committed for the betterment of the people of the State. If they will provide us money then we will be ready to pay them full compensation money Rs 4 lakh immediately. The Central Government’s data is also wrong. They are showing 4 lakh some thousand people died due to the infection, but we know that it is 20 times more than the numbers shown by the Central Government,” said Alam.

Speaking on the occasion JPCC Chief, Rajesh Thakur said that on March 14, 2020, the Central Government had issued a notification and said that it would give Rs 4 lakh compensation to the people who died from Corona infection. Now the Government is refusing to do so, he added. The Central Government waived off Rs 7.95 lakh crore loans of its industrialists friends but it has no money to provide proper compensation to the relatives of people who died due to the infection, he said.

“Rs 68,000 crores were waived of willful 50 defaulters. There are many other companies including PNB scam in this. The Centre does not have money for the families of those who lost their lives from Corona. But there are Rs 20,000 crores to build the Central Vista (New Parliament House). The Government is withdrawing from giving the benefits of the provisions of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)to the citizens,” saidThakur.

The JPCC Chief also demanded from the Chief Minister, Hemant Soren that the State Government’s share amount should be paid soon so that the Center can be pressurised to pay the compensation amount. He said that Congress will organize a ‘Mahangai Hatao’ rally in Ranchi on December 12th. The JPCC Chief said that people across the State are suffering due to inflation. Keeping this in mind, this rally is being organized against the policies of the Central Government, he added.

JPCC Spokesperson Rakesh Sinha, Rajiv Ranjan and others were also present in the conference.