M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, Dec. 20: The number of deaths by Covid in Garhwa and Palamu districts has been duly updated but Latehar is yet to update the tally.
According to the state disaster management office in Ranchi, 94 Covid deaths were reported in Garhwa, 110 in Palamu, and 57 in Latehar districts. The management body has also sent funds to these three districts in accordance with the numbers in the list (Rs.50, 000 for 1 victim’s family).
Civil surgeon in-charge Garhwa Dr Kamlesh Kumar said, “We have in fact 102 covid deaths in the district of Garhwa. Out of these 102 deaths, 14 had died in the first wave while 88 deaths occurred in the second wave.”
Dr Kumar further split this figure of 102 deaths into two broad categories. There were 11 deaths by Covid out of 102 Covid deaths of those people here in Garhwa district who hailed from places like Nagpur in Maharashtra, Sonebhadra in UP etc. These people belonged to other states but remained here in Garhwa to get Covid treatment.
91 covid deaths out of 102 are of those people who were residents of Garhwa and were of the state Jharkhand.
Dr Kamlesh said that the state disaster management authority, Ranchi has given us funds for only 94 deceased.
“Right now we will be dealing with ex-gratia assistance to the 91 Covid deaths in Garhwa. The cases of 11 Covid deaths of people hailing from other states would be taken up in accordance with the state government’s directive,” he said.
Civil surgeon Palamu, Dr Anil Kumar said: “We have updated our Covid figure which is 110 in the list of the state disaster management authority Ranchi while we have 8 more deaths taking the total tally from 110 to 118.”
“Our district has got ex-gratia relief worth rupees 50,000 each for only 110 covid deaths which come to 55 lakhs,” Dr. Anil added.
In the first wave, 25 people of Palamu had died but incidentally, all the deaths had occurred in Ranchi, said a doctor.
Ved Prakash, a health official, said that Latehar is the first district to disburse ex-gratia relief worth 50,000 rupees each to two claimants for the assistance and this disbursement was done by Chief Minister Hemant Soren during his recent visit to Daltonganj to grace the divisional programme of the Aapke Adhikar-Aapki Sarkar-Aapke Dwar.
