Nagaland government announces INR 10 lakh ex gratia for frontline workers

Dimapur, April 20 (EMN): Nagaland government has announced an ex gratia payment of INR 10 lakh to any government employee “who suffers fatality due to Covid-19 while performing frontline duties”.

This was informed by the minister for Planning and Co-ordination, Land Revenue and Parliamentary Affairs, Neiba Kronu, in the daily official Covid-19 briefing. 

Special package for stranded citizens

Kronu said that Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has also announced immediate relief in the form of cash assistance to distressed and stranded citizens outside Nagaland because of the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown.

“The scale of cash assistance will be INR 20,000 for a patient, INR 4,000 for a professional or working person and INR 3,000 for a student. For this purpose, a separate portal has been opened (iamstranded.nagaland.gov.in) where any citizen of the state who is presently outside facing distress due to the nationwide lockdown, may apply for assistance directly,” he said.

The chief minister had also tweeted the announcement, which prompted an overwhelming response from those citizens of Nagaland stranded in other states. The website was said to be experiencing difficulties due to the overwhelming response.

On Monday night, the state’s IT department was working on it, and assured to restore it shortly.  

The chief minister has also announced to provide daily workers in the state with relief packets consisting of rice, dal and other essential items through the district administration, Kronu informed.

434 samples sent; 30 await result

The minister informed that 434 samples have been sent from Nagaland so far for Covid-19 testing. Results for 404 have returned negative while the remaining 30 awaits confirmation.

Total number of persons under facility quarantine is 121.  

Till date, Nagaland has received 56,000 personal protective equipment, 2,76,000 triple-layer masks, 42,000 N95 masks, 11 ICU ventilators, nine transport ventilators and 50 CPAP machines, 1007 B-type oxygen cylinders, 119 A-type nitrous cylinders and 54 jumbo oxygen cylinders, he said.