Having lost both their parents during the second Covid wave, Devika, 23, and Santoshi, 21, now guardians to four minor sisters and a four-year-old brother, are yet to get help under Delhi government's scheme for children who lost one or both parents to the pandemic.
Devika, a BEd student, says their father worked as a priest for a local temple and their mother was a homemaker.
Recounting their ordeal during the second wave of Covid infections that made people scramble for hospital beds and oxygen cylinders, she said her parents had to be taken to Punjab and Haryana because no beds were available in Delhi.
"Our mother got infected with Covid on April 26. We took her to several hospitals but there were no beds available. Her oxygen level dipped to 30. I bought an oxygen cylinder, but it did not last for even 15 minutes," she said.
"I came to know that a bed is available at a hospital in Kurukshetra. I took my mother there. Her oxygen level dipped further. She struggled at night and the doctor said she would need ventilator support. She then breathed her last," said Devika, unable to hold back tears.
"My father's oxygen level was 87. We got him to a hospital in Jalandhar. He passed away on May 7," she said.
The two sisters said they have completed all the paperwork to register for the Delhi government scheme, but are yet to receive any assistance.
Under the scheme announced in May, a monthly pension of Rs 2,500 will be provided to children who lost their parents to Covid and their education costs will be borne by the Delhi government.
"There were a lot of documents required and I did not know how to procure all of them. We filled all the forms, they were approved but no compensation came," said Devika.
"We struggled a lot, the government website didn't work for 15 days. We used to stay up hoping that it would work. Even to get my sister identified as the guardian, we had to run around a lot," added Santoshi, who holds a BCom degree and now works as an anganwadi teacher.
The sisters said that while they have received some help from the civil society and NGOs in the form of ration supply and the like, there is no steady source of income for the seven siblings.
"I am unable to continue with my studies as I have to keep running around for the documentation. I am also unable to spend time with my siblings," said Devika.
On Monday, hearing a plea relating to the seven siblings, the Delhi High Court said, "It would be unfair to expect children who lost their parents to procure certificates and documents. The Delhi government should adopt simple and easily implementable procedures."
"When you don't get food, every hour, every day matters," the court added.
The Delhi government says problems in the verification process will be resolved.
Rajendra Pal Gautam, Social Welfare minister, said, "Documentation and verification has been simplified to a great extent. The Chief Minister has given a direct order to SDMs that if there is any problem in documentation, the SDM should go to the families of affected people and if any documents are missing, we should help them get those documents. We hope any issues still remaining will be done away with.
"At times, officers feel that if any documents are missing, questions can be raised later about where the money went," he added.
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