Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has introduced that the COVID-19 aid offered for government-accredited journalists can be elevated to Rs 5000 from the prevailing sum of Rs 3000. He additionally introduced that the solatium paid to the kin of journalists who lose their lives due to the pandemic shall be doubled.
Stalin had earlier introduced journalists as frontline staff amid the pandemic. During the AIADMK regime in Tamil Nadu, media individuals had been offered free and precedence vaccination together with frontline staff, nicely forward of the meeting elections.
According to Stalin, the availability to hike the aid quantity and compensation comes after a number of requests. He added that the journalists and media acted as a bridge between government and public in making certain that the precise info reached the individuals.
However, the state government and its publicity arm, the Department of Information and Public Relations, has refused to renew the accreditation of many eligible journalists, whereas additionally not offering accreditation for brand spanking new candidates. Relevant Officials from the DIPR weren’t accessible for remark. The officers for lengthy have been providing excuses that provision of accreditation has been halted owing to authorized points.
In the absence of accreditation from the government, many journalists might not be eligible for the advantages, neither would their households be offered compensation in case of bereavement.
“I have been in the possession of an accreditation card since 2008, but the government department has not renewed my card since late 2019, despite submitting all the required papers on time,” mentioned a senior journalist.
With practically 35,000 each day instances, Tamil Nadu is the state that’s reporting the highest variety of COVID-19 instances throughout India. On Tuesday, the state witnessed 468 deaths and the energetic instances stood at 3.06 lakh.
