Vijay Chandele might have been a ward boy, but his intent as a corona warrior was no less. He too know that he was at high risk, but was on the frontline and did his duty diligently. As a result, on Friday, demand for ex gratia of Rs 50 lakh for the family of the ward boy of Cancer Hospital, intensified and the Madhya Pradesh Rajya Karmachari Sangh alleged discrimination in the COVID deaths by the government.
Media officer of Sangh Shivkant Vajpai dashed off a letter to Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and demanded him to treat the death of the ward boy as death of other COVID warriors treated.
“Government had provided Rs 50 lakh ex gratia to the family of cops died but even after 24 hours, no announcement was done for Chandele. He was also a COVID warrior and died while serving the patients,” Vajpai said.
He added that his family didn’t even receive Rs 50,000 as the compensation provided by the department after death.
Deceased’s wife Seema, who got discharged from the hospital after tested negative, said she didn’t receive any help from the department or officials yet.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Cancer Hospital Dr Ramesh Arya too demanded that Chandele should be announced martyr and an ex gratia of Rs 50 lakh should be given to him.
“We will send the proposal immediately after getting his death certificate. I have already written to the department to provide compensation to his family. He was a family member for me like every other staff in Cancer Hospital,” Arya said.
Tankha alleged discrimination
Senior Congress leader Vivek Tankha too raised the issue and alleged discrimination in COVID-19 warrior’s death by the government. “Life of a ward boy is equally important to us like a doctor and a soldier. Why there is discrimination? I wish justice for him with any discrimination,” Tankha tweeted and also tagged Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Whistle blower Dr Anand Rai too demanded the government to give equal stature to Chandele.
