Children orphaned from Corona will get money when they turn 21, separate grant for care- The state government will provide assistance of five lakh rupees to the children who were orphaned due to the corona epidemic. The state government has prepared this scheme keeping in mind that the future of the children should not be spoiled after the death of the parents. Under the scheme, the state government will deposit a lump sum of Rs 5 lakh in the name of the orphan children in their bank account and this amount will be given to them with interest on attaining the age of 21 years. This will be a fixed deposit account and this account will be opened in the joint name of both the District Women and Child Development Officer and the child.
The state cabinet has also given its approval for a two-tier system for the care of these children. In the first arrangement, the children whose relatives are ready to accept them will be given in their possession and for the care of these children, their relatives will be given a grant of Rs 1100 per month under the Balsangopan scheme by the Department of Women and Child Development. But children who have no relatives or are not ready to take care of them will be kept in children’s homes and they will be looked after by the government.
different from the central plan
The government has also made it clear that for the care of the orphaned children, the central government has also announced a similar scheme from the PM Care Fund, but this scheme of the state government will be different from that scheme i.e. the orphaned children of the state. The benefits of both the schemes will be available.
Eligibility to get benefits of the scheme
1- Children from 0 to 18 years will get the benefit of this scheme.
2- Children whose mother and father have died from Corona on or after 1 March 2020.
3- One of the parents has died of corona and the other has died due to some other reason.
4- One of the parents must have died before 1st March 2020 and the other must have died from corona after 1st March 2020.
5- The government will issue a detailed mandate regarding other terms and conditions of the scheme.
Task Force headed by Collectors
A special task force has been constituted in every district under the chairmanship of collectors to provide the benefits of the scheme to the orphan children. This task force is mandated to compile information on children orphaned due to Corona, to provide all possible protection to children, to protect orphaned children from crimes like child labour, child trafficking, human trafficking, economic rights of children and rights related to land. Responsibilities have been given to protect, make available the benefits of Balsangopan scheme, if necessary, get admitted in children’s homes etc. Not only this, the cabinet has also made it clear that it will be the responsibility of the District Women and Child Development Officer to make available the benefits of the scheme.
Presently there is a provision of Rs 10 crore: Thakur
State Women and Child Development Minister Yashomati Thakur said that the government will give a copy of the entire rehabilitation of the children orphaned due to Corona by giving Mamta the basis. At present, a provision of Rs. 5 lakh per child for an estimated Rs. 200 crore has been approved in the cabinet meeting. Additional funds will be sanctioned if the estimated number of children increases. At present, evidence of 141 children being orphans has been found across the state.
444 cases in Mumbai suburb itself
On one hand the government has made a provision of Rs 10 crore for an estimated 200 children, while on the other hand, a survey of 3118 families in Mumbai suburb district alone revealed 444 children being orphaned. When the task force headed by Mumbai Suburban District Magistrate Milind Borikar surveyed the families of 3118 persons with coronavirus in the suburb, it was revealed that one of the parents of 444 of these children died of corona. Whereas 7 children were found whose parents both died due to corona. However this survey is still ongoing.
