new delhi: Officials have confirmed that police personnel who test COVID-19 positive will now receive Rs 10,000 from the Delhi Police fund, instead of Rs 1 lakh which was granted earlier. However, the city police has increased the amount sanctioned for personnel who lose their lives to the disease from Rs 7 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
The move was confirmed by a Special CP rank officer in Delhi Police. Sources said that discussions related to money spent on police personnel and what the future graph will be like, were held between Delhi Police officers.
"The personnel who are affected by the virus are getting overall help from the department. They are being provided free services of doctors. So we came up with the decision to reduce the money from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10,000," an official told the Millennium Post.
The officer said that in case of anything unfortunate happens and any personnel dies due to the virus, his or her family will receive Rs 10 lakh. "Earlier it was decided that they will get Rs 7 lakh but now Rs 3 lakh has been increased," he said, adding that they had limited funds and the money which is being cut will in turn be utilised for the welfare of police personnel. According to one official, initially they thought the spread of virus will be contained in the force, but now its has spread widely.
The Delhi Police will create a COVID fund for helping its personnel. "A COVID relief fund will be setup and Rs 500 will be given by police officers and Rs 200 by MTS," sources here added. According to the official, COVID-19 is a new phenomena and earlier they were giving money from their welfare fund which was meant for marriage loans, education loans for higher study to the wards of the police personnel and other welfare services for cops.
"We are also doing other health related work. Health officers have been appointed in police stations to monitor the health of police personnel. Face masks, sanitisers are distributed to police personnel. Police Colonies are sanitised. We want to ensure that our police personnel are safe," an officer said.
In Delhi Police, more than 180 COVID-19 cases have been reported so far in which over 70 personnel have recovered and one death was also reported.