Vijayawada: Rs 50 Lakh sought for kin of deceased government staff

Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh JAC, Amaravati, an umbrella organisation of employees, teachers, workers and retired employees, on Saturday requested Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to sanction ex gratia of Rs 50 lakh to the kin of the state government employees who died due to Covid-19. The JAC leaders also urged the Chief Minister to allot a separate ward in government and private hospitals to treat the government employees infected with coronavirus.

JAC leaders Bopparaju Venkateswarlu, chairman of the JAC, state general secretary Y V Rao and treasurer VV Muralikrishna Naidu submitted a representation to the Chief Minister in this regard.

The JAC leaders said that more than 1,500 employees working in various government departments in the state were infected with coronavirus and about 50 employees of revenue, police, panchayat raj, agriculture, education, ward and village secretariats, energy and other departments died succumbed to the virus while discharging duties.

The JAC leaders said the Chief Minister Jagan had sanctioned Rs 50 ex gratia to the family of a police constable, who died due to corona in May this year though police personnel were not covered under the Covid insurance schemes formulated by Government of India.

The leaders said the family would be badly affected with the sudden demise of an employee due to Covid and requested the Chief Minister to announce Rs 50 lakh ex gratia on humanitarian grounds in case of Covid death.

The JAC also urged the government to create a separate help desk in each district go guide and care all the employees right from testing to admission to an appropriate hospital in case of infection irrespective of the cadre.

They requested the Chief Minister that employees above 50 years of age may be exempted from Covid duties since they are more vulnerable and most of the casualties in the state are above 50 years of age only.