A claim has gone viral on the internet, which says that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had given financial aid of Rs 1 crore to only Dr Anas Mujahid’s family even when several COVID warriors have lost their lives in the COVID pandemic.
Anas, a 26-year-old resident doctor in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Delhi’s GTB hospital, lost his life due to COVID-19 on 9 May.
The Quint’s WebQoof found out that the claim is misleading as the Delhi government has provided financial assistance to families of several COVID-19 warriors belonging to different communities since the pandemic began.
CLAIM
Major Surendra Poonia shared a tweet and wrote, “घटिया और शर्मनाक. IMA के मुताबिक़ दिल्ली उन राज्यों में है जहाँ कोरोना से सबसे ज़्यादा डॉक्टरों की मृत्यु हुई है. लेकिन केजरीवाल में सिर्फ़ Dr अनस के परिवार को 1 Cr की सहायता राशि दी. बाक़ी डॉक्टरों के परिवारों को क्यों नहीं ? मरने वालों में भी अंतर सिर्फ़ केजरीवाल ही कर सकता है.”
(Translated: Cheap and embarrassing. According to the IMA, Delhi is among those states where most doctors have died due to COVID-19. But Kejriwal has given financial aid of Rs 1 crore only to the family of Dr Anas. Why not to families of other doctors? Only Kejriwal can find differences among the dead.)
He shared the same claim on Facebook and Twitter, with the latter garnering over 3,300 retweets at the time of writing this article.
Several social media users furthered the claim on Facebook and Twitter. This includes advocate Ashwini Upadhyay and user Rishi Bagree . Archived links of the posts can be found here, here, here, and here.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We searched for news reports to find out whether the Delhi government had provided financial assistance of Rs 1 crore to families of other deceased COVID doctors.
We came across several news reports mentioning that the Delhi government had provided financial assistance to the families of deceased COVID warriors in multiple instances. Here’s a look at some of them from this year.
- Nitin Tanwar: The CM met his family and provided cash assistance of Rs 1 crore to them on 21 May. He worked as a schoolteacher at the MC Primary School and died performing various COVID-19 duties, The Hindu reported.
- Sheoji Mishra: On 20 May, Kejriwal met the family members of Sheoji Mishra, who succumbed to COVID-19 last year. He worked as an English teacher at RSBV School, Kalyanvas, according to The Indian Express.
- Rakesh Jain: The CM met the family of Rakesh Jain, who worked as a lab technician at Hindu Rao Hospital and succumbed to COVID-19, and gave them a cheque of Rs 1 crore, Outlook reported.
- Om Pal Singh: Kejriwal on 19 Feb met the family of the COVID-19 warrior, who was the principal of the Government Boys’ Senior Secondary School in Kalyanpuri.
- Raj Kumar: He worked as a security guard at Rajiv Gandhi Hospital and had succumbed to COVID-19. His family also received an ex-gratia of Rs 1 crore from the Delhi government, Hindustan Times reported.
- Hitesh Gupta: Kejriwal handed over Rs 1-crore financial aid to the family of Dr Hitesh Gupta on 13 January and also said that his wife will be given a government job, reported NDTV.
There are other instances of the CM providing cash assistance of Rs 1 crore to the families of COVID-19 warriors as well. The following are the beneficiaries who received it in 2020.
- Dr Javed Ali: Kejriwal met the family of the deceased doctor, who died due to COVID and handed over to his family a cash assistance of Rs 1 crore on 30 July 2020.
- Dr Joginder Chaudhary: On 4 August 2020, Kejriwal met the family of the 27-year-old doctor, who succumbed to COVID, and handed over the cheque of Rs 1 crore to them, The Hindu reported.
- Charan Singh: The CM on 22 July 2020 met the next of kin of 59-year-old Charan Singh, technical supervisor at Lok Nayak hospital, who succumbed to COVID-19 and handed the cheque of Rs 1 crore, The Hindu reported.
- Raju: Kejriwal met the family of sanitation worker Raju, who died due to COVID-19 on 21 August 2020 and handed a cheque of Rs 1 crore to his family, reported NDTV.
On 1 April 2020, Kejriwal announced that the Aam Aadmi Party-led government will give Rs 1 crore as financial assistance to the families of healthcare personnel if they lose their lives while dealing with COVID cases.
Clearly, some social media users shared a false claim, giving a communal colour where, in reality, financial assistance was given to families of all COVID-19 warriors by the Delhi government, irrespective of their communities or backgrounds.
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