Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today announced a slew of measures to mitigate the suffering of families who have lost their loved ones to Covid-19 pandemic.

The Lt Governor said, senior citizens who have lost only earning member of the family will be provided special pension for life while children, who have lost their parents to this 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 & 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 1000 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, the 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,” 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.

The Lt Governor said that Rs 55 crore would be released under 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 SDRF.

Earlier, the Lt Governor received feedback from the senior officers over the Covid-19 management and other measures in J&K.

While taking the review of Covid scenario in the UT, the Lt Governor enquired about the availability of Covid dedicated beds, high flow oxygen supply, installation of oxygen plants in the Union Territory.

He was informed that additional oxygen plants are being imported and would be installed soon in the government-run hospitals.

The Lt Governor reiterated that the additional oxygen capacity would cater to the requirement of oxygen, besides helping in enhancing the bed capacity with oxygen support.

The Lt Governor directed the concerned officers to enforce strict Corona Curfew across Jammu & Kashmir and allow only emergency and essential services during the restrictions to break the chain of transmission.

Sh. Farooq Khan, Sh. Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar and Sh. Baseer Ahmad Khan- Advisors to Lieutenant Governor; Sh. BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Sh. Dilbag Singh, DGP; Sh. Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; Sh. Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education; Sh. Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary, Home Department; Dr. Asgar Hassan Samoon, Principal Secretary, Skill Development Department; Sh. Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary, Public Works (R&B) Department; Sh. Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to the Lt Governor; Sh. Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner/Secretary, General Administration Department; Ms. Sarita Chauhan, Commissioner/Secretary, Labour and Employment Department; Sh. Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir; Sh. M Raju, Commissioner/Secretary, Jal Shakti Department; Ms. Sheetal Nanda, Secretary, Social Welfare Department; Sh. Zubair Ahmad, Commissioner/Secretary, FCS & CA Department, and Sh. Mohammad Aijaz, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar attended the meeting, in person and through virtual mode.