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Updated: Mar 31, 2020 11:53 IST

The Uttarakhand government on Monday evening announced life insurance worth Rs 4 lakh each for 68,457 employees from various departments who are on the frontline in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic in the state.

Chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat had declared during the one-day concluding budget session on March 25 that all the personnel, including health, sanitation, police and media, will be recognised as ‘COVID Warriors’ and be given life insurance by the government for their role in the fight against the deadly virus.

But he had not announced the specifics.

“To laud the efforts of personnel of various departments in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic, we will provide life insurance worth Rs 4 lakh to 68,457 such personnel,” Rawat said on Monday adding the initiative will cost Rs 17.02 crore for a year to the government.

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Monday’s announcement, however, didn’t include the state health workers as their insurance is being provided under health insurance by the Centre.

According to the announcement, of the 68,457 personnel, 22,523 are from state police, 7988 are sanitation workers, 14,595 are Anganwadi workers, 14,376 are Anganwadi assistants, 4924 are mini Anganwadi assistants, 3000 are employees of the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam and 1051 are from other departments.

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“The life insurance from the state government is not being provided to our health workers as it is being done by the Centre. We are also soon doing a separate arrangement for media persons on the same,” said Rawat.

Later on Monday evening around 8pm, the chief minister also addressed the residents of the state on Facebook and urged them to continue following the lockdown to “defeat Covid-19 infection.”

“So far people of Uttarakhand have fully co-operated with the government in following the lockdown and maintaining social distancing. However, they need now to think about how they can follow this lockdown in a better way and keep maintaining social distance,” said Rawat.

“Though the people are following the instructions, there are some reports about the people who have returned to their home in the hilly areas from other states and are venturing out and not following home quarantine. They should stop doing that and strictly get into home quarantine for the sake of their children and family’s lives,” he said.

On Monday, 49 inmates from Haldwani and Nainital jails in Nainital district were released on parole by jail administration.

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They were released after the Supreme Court a few days ago ordered all states and Union territories to decongest overcrowded jails to prevent the spread of Covid-19 by releasing inmates, who are convicted for a sentence of fewer than seven years, and undertrials entailing a sentence of fewer than seven years on parole.

Out of the 49 inmates released on parole for six months, 46 are from Haldwani jail while 43 from Nainital jail.

“We are working on the Supreme Court order and similar action would be taken by other jails also,” PVK Prasad, inspector general of police (jail), said.

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