AHMEDABAD: Chief Minister Vijay Rupani, after the core committee meeting on Wednesday, May 12, announced that the cremation ground workers will be termed as ‘corona warriors’ and they will be entitled to all the benefits associated with it, retrospectively from April 1, 2020. The state government also announced that it will set up oxygen plants at 348 community health centres (CHCs) across the state.
The committee meeting also stated that the beneficiaries of the state health insurance schemes of Mukhyamantri Amrutam (MA) and MA-Vatsalya will now also cover the treatment of COVID-19 patients up to a daily cap of Rs 5,000 for a period of 10 days. An official release stated that this will benefit around 80 lakh families in the state.
The cremation ground workers and those performing the final rites as well as all the other employees at cremation grounds will be eligible for benefits of those qualified as ‘corona warriors’. This will include compensation of Rs 25 lakh to the next of kin of any such worker who lost their lives to COVID-19.