The wife of Delhi Police constable Amit Kumar, who was the first casualty of the coronavirus in the force, has given birth to a baby girl on January 15. The daughter has been nicknamed 'Annie', as per the wishes of the late policemen, said the family.
#Delhi Wife of Const Amit-1st #Covid19 death in @DelhiPolice -gave birth to baby girl on Jan 15.She got to know about her pregnancy on 13th day of his death.She’snamed her Annie-name desired by officer if he ever had a girl.
— Hemani Bhandari (@HemaniBhandari) January 20, 2021
Family still hasn’t rec 1cr ex-gratia announced by CM. pic.twitter.com/AIkFvshe1P
Kumar died from the virus on May 5, following which his wife Pooja and their 3-year-old son also tested positive for the contagion. 13 days after his demise, while Pooja was in a quarantine centre, she came to know that she is pregnant, as per reports.
“Amit always said if we had a daughter, we will name her Annie so I kept it as her nickname. I have also decided on her real name—Ojasvi,” Pooja said. Pooja, who was discharged on Monday, believes Amit has returned to her in the form of Annie’s. “It is my belief…I conceived her around the same time when he left us…also, she looks identical to her father…the resemblance is uncanny.”
Amit Kumar’s widow yet to receive ex gratia of Rs 1 crore announced by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal
While the family is elated with the addition of a new member, they are still waiting for the ex gratia of Rs 1 crore promised by Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal at the time of Amit’s death. Kejriwal had taken to Twitter to acknowledge the sacrifices made by the late Delhi Police officer and declared that a compensation of Rs 1 crore will be granted to Kumar’s family.
अमित जी अपनी जान की परवाह ना करते हुए करोना की इस महामारी के समय हम दिल्ली वालों की सेवा करते रहे। वे खुद करोना से संक्रमित हो गए और हमें छोड़ कर चले गए। उनकी शहादत को मैं सभी दिल्लीवासियो की ओर से नमन करता हूँ। उनके परिवार को 1 करोड़ रुपए की सम्मान राशि दी जाएगी। https://t.co/n1eNmZNNCw
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) May 7, 2020
Pooja, Amit’s widow, says that the family was recently informed that their son’s file has been rejected by the Delhi government because it did not meet their requirements. She added that they had submitted all the necessary documents sought by the government department but were later informed that their file has been rejected on the ground that Amit wasn’t on COVID-19 duty.
However, Pooja was offered a job in the force for which she has received an official communication and has a test scheduled in March. She is hopeful of clearing the test and landing the job.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister on Tuesday visited the Delhi Police Headquarters on Tuesday to pay his tributes to the “COVID Warriors” of the Delhi Police force whose names were written on the board. As per Delhi Police officials, 33 police officials had died of COVID-19 and none of them had received the ex-gratia of ₹1 crore as announced by the Delhi government.
Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government fails to honour promises of compensating police officials for their COVID-19 duty
A report published last month stated that Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi had rejected claims filed by 12 out of 15 families of police personnel who died of coronavirus while on duty. The Arvind Kejriwal government rejected the files on the grounds that the police officials were not on COVID-19 duty.
As per the report, at least 31 police officers in Delhi have lost their lives due to coronavirus. Of these, 15 were on coronavirus duty. Of these 15, 12 claims were rejected while 3 were pending with the Delhi government.
The report cited a case of Delhi Police constable Yogendra Prasad Yadav, who lost his life while on COVID duty. He was posted at the Paschim Vihar police station in outer Delhi and succumbed to the virus on July 7, 2020. He was sent across to ensure that the residents of Delhi follow lockdown norms. However, the Delhi government, after making lofty promises of compensating frontline workers including police personnel for their COVID-19 duty, rejected Yadav’s claim as well.
The rejection letter by Delhi government reads, “the deceased was performing his routine duty assigned to him and was not deployed for Covid-19 duty, which is a mandatory condition to become eligible for grant of ex gratia of Rs 1 crore.” Yadav’s father, questioning Delhi Government on the definition of ‘COVID duty’ requested the Delhi Chief Minister to keep his promise.
Aruna Sharma, the wife of Inspector Sanjay Sharma, who also died of the coronavirus in August, said that she too had received a rejection letter from the Delhi government. She said she had approached the chief minister’s office via phone and requested the officials for an audience of 5 minutes to present her case before them. Sharma says she fails to comprehend how the Delhi government could reject her husband’s eligibility when he was posted in Police Control Room Unit and was taking rounds of all the red zones as well.
