India / Kejriwal gives ₹1 cr to family of sanitation worker who died of COVID-19

New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday met the family of a sanitation worker who died due to COVID-19 virus and handed over a cheque of ₹ 1 Crore as financial assistance to them. The sanitisation worker, Raju, had contradicted the virus while working amid the viral outbreak.

Mr Kejriwal went to Majnu Ka Tilla area in North Delhi to hand over the cheque to the family of the sanitation worker.

Talking to reporters, Mr Kejriwal said that sanitation worker Raju contracted the infection when he was on COVID-19 duty and died while serving the people of Delhi. "He died while serving the people. We are proud of all such COVID warriors," Mr Kejriwal said after presenting the cheque to the family of the sanitisation worker.

More than 30 sanitation workers have died in Delhi after being infected by the COVID-19 virus. They were likely exposed while performing their duties amid a viral outbreak that has killed more than 4,000 people in the national capital alone and over 50,000 across the country.

The families of most of these men and women are still struggling to get the compensation announced by the MCD (Municipal Corporation of Delhi).

Many MCD sanitation workers have claimed that they do not receive adequate protective equipment from the authorities. They say that all they have received in the name of protective gear since the lockdown was announced in March are some face masks.

Earlier, in a petition filed before the Supreme Court, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that the guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) are binding on the Indian government and were being followed.