Nine children lost both their parents in Himachal Pradesh in the brutal second coronavirus wave sweeping the country.
In Kangra, a class 10 boy and his seven-year-old sister lost their mother on April 29 and later their father to Covid on May 5. In Hamirpur district, the teenaged siblings, a brother, and a sister had only one parent. They had lost their father sometime back but now mother died of Covid -19. We are in touch with their uncle and grandparents, who have decided to take care of them. The government will provide assistance under the foster scheme,” said Hamirpur deputy commissioner Debasweta Banik.
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Apart from this, she said 51 other children have lost one parent in the pandemic in the district.
After former Congress minister, GS Bali took an initiative to reach out to the children who lost both their parents to Covid 19, the state’s BJP government also announced a scheme on Wednesday to look after them.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Wednesday that the government will fulfill its duty to extend full help to these children. The government will provide Rs 2,500 per month to each of them under the Foster Care Scheme till they turn 18.
All the children, after the demise of their parents, are currently living with close relatives, who have declined to send them to institutional facilities as they were capable of providing them with all care and emotional support within the family.
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Kangra deputy commissioner Rakesh Prajapati said, “Contact has been established with most of the children and their foster-care families. The child welfare teams have also started counselling the families looking after these kids particularly for their emotional wellbeing, their education, and other needs.”
Former minister GS Bali, who heads the AICC committee on “corona relief work” in the state said, “After I announced the initiative, I received several calls from different districts, three of these from Una (two Amb and one Haroli) district informing about children losing both the parents. I have announced a scheme to send them Rs 2,000 per month besides taking care of their education.”
One report has also come from Solan.
“Today I also came to know about three families, two of the brother and sister in Hamirpur,” he said.
This evening, the former minister also came out with an initiative on “special children” who will be given a financial help of Rs 2000 per month besides getting them trained for vocational/professional courses.
“We are going to get all these children tested done and take responsibility for education, well-being and rehabilitation,” Bali said here.
