Bhubaneswar: Following the approval of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, the Information and Public Relations (I&PR) Department has sanctioned ex-gratia of Rs 2.55 crore to the family members of 17 working journalists who died due to Covid-19.
An assistance of Rs 15 lakh has been sanctioned for each of the families of 17 working journalists of the State.
The list of journalists who have been sanctioned ex-gratia include-four from Bhubaneswar. They are—Manas Jaypuria from Zee Odisha, Basanta Das (Freelance), Bijayan Laxmi Mohanty (Ajikali), Pritiman Mohapatra (Times of India).
Three journalists who were from Balangir include Subhransu Sekhara Mishra (Sambad), Jateesh Chandra Khamari (Sambad) and Kailash Chandra Sahoo (Pragatibadi).
Similarly, Gobind Behera (TV News 6 Web), Pradeep Kishore Sahu (Sambad), Kishore Chandra Dash (Samaj), Naresh Kumar Behera (Odisha Files), Ratnakar Moharana (Kalinga Jyoti), Nandini, Nilaya Ranjan Pattnaik, (Block Correspondent), Karunakar Sahoo (Anupam Bharat) were from Ganjam districts, whose family members will get the benefits.
Moreover, the next to the kin of Bhanuprakash Rath (Naxatra TV) from Kalahandi and Ashok Kumar Sahoo (Manthan) & Pravat Kumar Routray (Loka Sampark) from Jajpur district would get the aid.
This financial assistance will be disbursed to the next of kin of the deceased journalists. A sum of Rs 2.55 Crore has been sanctioned from Journalist Welfare Fund.
Few such cases have been received by the I&PR Department which will be disbursed after due verification, sources said.After required enquiry at the district level, eligible applications will be considered for disbursement of the ex-gratia compassionate assistance.