The year 2020 was pretty shocking for the whole world as scores of people experienced a pandemic for the first time in their lives. Many people succumbed to the disease and many lost their loved ones during this atrocity. In India, the ongoing second wave is coming out harder than last year. People are gasping for breath, even losing lives, while efforts are also afoot to control the situation.
During these bleak times, a noble initiative has been taken up by the District Magistrate of Ghaziabad Mr Ajay Shankar Pandey. The initiative goes by the name of ‘Always With You’, a scheme to help those distressed persons who have been impacted by the death of elder members in their families. The initiative has come out at a time when people are experiencing such a tragedy so early in their lives.
MOTIVE BEHIND THE SCHEME
Life takes a different turn for families who lost their prime earning members or the head member, during such unprecedented times. As Covid 19 is reaching every nook and corner of the country, a number of distressed families in Ghaziabad have also experienced the same thing.
The district administration of Ghaziabad is lending a helping hand to such people, especially those who don’t have adults in their families and are in need of guidance. “There are several formalities which are meant to be conducted in the event of someone’s death and with the loss of the head member of the family, people are finding it difficult to streamline the necessary procedures. Amid such trying times, we thought of lending a helping hand to such distressed families by launching a scheme called ‘Always With You’. We have appointed an officer who will get in touch with such families and sort out their issues”, says District Magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey.
Mr. Pandey has also instructed that the families whose members have died due to Covid 19 can contact the authorized officers and get the information regarding any difficulty they are facing. The action will be ensured upon any difficulty of such people in the district.
TIMELY REDRESSAL
To start with, the district magistrate created an email id where people can list their name, mobile number and the issue they are facing during such trying times. The email can be sent at [email protected].
After the issues are sent through the listed email id, the DM will allot a specific authorized officer to come in aid of individual families and help them in every kind possible. The officer will be given a name of ‘Administration Friend’ as he will be helping the distressed families not as a government officer but as a friend.
The officer or the administration friend will contact the family and help them in any social, economical or financial help required. Issues related to the death certificate, inheritance certificate, process of getting bank account debited, LIC claim etc. will also be taken care of under the scheme.
LESS PAPERWORK
Apart from this, the officer will also help in the completion of government/departmental forms which will be required to bring the business activities of the families in routine.
The scheme was kickstarted and the administration also started receiving mails of people approaching for help. A boy named Suryansh Sharma was one of the people who sent the mail for help. The boy lost his father, who was suffering from Covid 19, on 11 May 2021. His mother was also critical and was admitted at Yashoda Hospital in Ghaziabad.
Said the boy “Mr. Ajay Shanker Pandey (D.M. Ghaziabad) sir came to our rescue after I lost my father. There was lot of legal work required to gather necessary certificates and other legal documents to manage the resources owned by my father. Sir promptly appointed a special liasening officer to take care of all the government paperwork and fast-tracked their clearances. All this was done during the time of lockdown. We were saved from the pain of running door to door at government offices to gather all the documents. In the absence of our father and with mother still recovering, his support means everything to me and my aggrieved family.”
There are also reports of some other districts in India taking a leaf from the Ghaziabad administration and implementing the scheme in their areas. Indian Masterminds will keep our readers abreast with all such developments.
