Punjab Govt identifies 23 kids orphaned by contagion

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 4

Aruna Chaudhary, Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister, today said the department had found a total of 23 children who lost both their parents to Covid-19 between March 31, 2020, and May 31, 2021.

Chaudhary said complying with the directions of the Chief Minister, the department had followed proper procedure and found 23 children within two weeks, including children whose both parents died of Covid or who had earlier lost one parent and the other one died of the virus, rendering the child orphaned.

“In all these cases, social investigation is being done, the child and his close relatives are interviewed and their views are ascertained. Initially, most such children were taken in by their close relatives,’ she said.

Chaudhary said those who had not been accepted by relatives or those who did not have one would be taken into children’s homes.

She said the government would provide Rs 1,500 per month as social security pension, along with free education up to graduation, for all those orphaned in the pandemic, as well as families that lost their breadwinners from July 1, 2021, onwards.