Chandigarh, May 19
Welcoming the decision of the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi for providing special financial assistance to children and families of Covid victims; the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) senior leader and Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Saravjit Kaur Manuke and MLA and Youth Wing president Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer have demanded from the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government of Punjab to provide financial assistance to the Covid victims of the state on the lines of the Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal government.
Addressing a press conference convened at the party headquarters here on Wednesday, MLAs Saravjit Kaur Manuke and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer said that the Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating effect in Delhi, leaving many children without parents and thousands of families without their breadwinners. They said that in this hour of grief, the Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal has made all out efforts to save the lives of the people and also announced to provide cash and pension to the families of the victims of Covid.
The leaders said that the Kejriwal government has decided to pay Rs 2,500 to the children, orphaned due to Covid pandemic in Delhi till the age of 25 years, while on the death of a family member with Covid, a pension of Rs 2,500 has been decided. “Similarly, a compensation of Rs 50,000 has been announced in case of death of breadwinner of a family with Covid. Orders have also been issued to provide free rations to poor families without ration cards along with 72 lakh people living in Delhi,” they added.
Saravjit Kaur Manuke said that on the other hand the Congress government of Punjab, the richest state in the country, had failed miserably in making proper arrangements to deal with the Covid pandemic and provide financial assistance to the families affected by it. She said that due to the unannounced lockdown of Captain Amarinder Singh, the livelihood of lakhs of families in the state was cut off but the Chief Minister did not make any arrangement to provide ration or any logistic support to any of the families.
The AAP leaders demanded from Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh that as per the Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi, compensation of Rs 50,000 should be given to the family in case of death of a breadwinner due to Covid and financial assistance to the orphans every month for their food, accommodation and education expenses should be given. They said that apart from this, free ration should be given to the families without ration cards along with the families with ration cards.
