Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday handed over a cheque of ₹10 lakh as financial assistance to the wife of Amit Singh Damia who succumbed while on COVID duty.
The aid was provided from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund and received by Dr. Damia’s wife Manmeet Alang at the Chief Minister’s residence.
“Dr. Amit did continuous duty during COVID-19 and served patients with full dedication. I met his family today and handed over a cheque of ₹10 lakh to the family as financial aid. This is a small gesture of help from our side,” Mr. Kejriwal said.
Dr. Damia was posted as senior resident on contract basis in the Department of Anaesthesia, Swami Vivekananda Hospital and was on COVID-19 duty when, on May 13, he suffered a cardiac arrest.
He was admitted to the Civil Hospital in Haryana where he passed away. Dr. Damia is survived by wife, mother and one child.
The Delhi BJP condemned the Chief Minister for alleged “discrimination” in the relief distribution to COVID warriors, and sought to compare the case of Dr. Damia with that of Dr. Anas Mujahid who also passed away while in the line of duty.
“Both died in early May due to infection and subsequent complications but sadly the Kejriwal government has highly discriminated in giving them compensation,” Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor alleged.
“The Chief Minister had visited Dr. Mujahid’s family and gave ₹1 crore compensation in less than two months since his death, but it took four months in deciding compensation for Dr. Damia’s family. It is deplorable that the Chief Minister went to meet Dr. Mujahid’s family while Dr. Damia’s family was asked to come to collect compensation,” he alleged.
