Rs 15 lakh ex-gratia if any working journalists dies of COVID-19: Odisha CM

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday announced compassionate assistance of Rs 15 lakh to working journalists who die due to coronavirus infection.

Patnaik said that coronavirus has created a huge health issue across the globe and journalists play a major role in creating awareness among the masses. They are working in a difficult situation to perform their professional duties, the chief minister said.

An official release issued by the Chief Ministers Office said that if any journalist dies due to coronavirus, his/her family members will get ex-gratia of Rs 15 lakh.

Odisha government media advisor Manas Mangaraj thanked the chief minister for the government's sympathetic approach towards journalists.

Earlier senior BJP leader and Union Minister Pratap Sarangi in a letter to the Union Information and Broadcasting

Minister Prakash Javadekar had urged him to introduce a health insurance scheme for scribes covering the pandemic, in line with the one for frontline health workers. Sarangi, the MoS for micro, small and medium enterprises, said that several journalists in Mumbai, Chennai, Bhopal and other places have tested positive for COVID-19.