COVID-19: Muslim body asks govt to allocate funds for workers

The Maharashtra chapter of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind urged the state government to set up a special fund to help daily wagers and unorganised workers who are left without a livelihood due to the COVID-19 lockdown. In a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, president of JIH Maharashtra Rizwan-ur-Rahman Khan suggested that the government set up a special fund for daily-wage workers and allocate money from its budget.

The government can ask industries to divert their corporate social responsibility donations of the first quarter for the cause and also appeal to the general public to chip in, Khan suggested. The JIH also proposed a series of measures to help those who were hit the hardest by the nationwide lockdown, which has been imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus. The organisation asked the state government to double the distribution of food grains and other essentials at ration shops. It has also proposed that the state government allocate a monthly compensation of Rs 5,000 to approximately 3.65 crore unorganised labourers in Maharashtra or provide them free meals and shelter.