CM approves Rs 5 lakh each as financial assistance for dependents of 18 deceased journos
Friday, 04 June 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Taking a major decision in the interests of the media fraternity, chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat has approved financial assistance of Rs five lakh each to dependents of 18 deceased journalists. Some of these journalists had died from Covid-19. The chief minister took this decision on the recommendation of committee formed for the assistance crisis-hit journalists and their dependents under the journalist welfare fund. The chief minister is the head of this committee. According to officials, approval to this sum of Rs 90 lakh is the biggest one-time amount approved for financial assistance since the formation of the journalist welfare fund.
Rawat said that the state government has always been alert regarding the welfare of journalists. The state government stands with the families of the journalists who have lost their lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. The chief minister said that the information director general has been directed that all official formalities should be completed soon to provide financial assistance also in cases wherein applications have not been received or in which the documents are not complete.
The information director general Ranveer Singh Chauhan said that the meeting of the committee related to the journalist welfare fund had been jeld on June 1 and the recommendations from it were approved by the chief minister on Thursday. Chauhan informed that a total of 18 proposals from across the state had been presented before the committee. The committee has recommended that financial assistance be provided in these cases. Further, eight such proposals had also been presented before the committee in which the documents were found to be incomplete. Regarding this, the district information officers have been directed that the application forms should be completed and submitted in the headquarters in 15 days so that these can be considered for financial assistance in the next meeting.
As non-governmental members attending the meeting of the committee, representatives of journalist organisations, Beena Upadhyay, Yogesh Bhatt and Trilok Chandra Bhatt were present while Ramesh Pahadi participated in the meeting virtually. Directorate of Information and Public Relations additional director Anil Chandola and deputy director Nitin Upadhyay were also among those present in the meeting.
