Congress said government is required to pay families of Covid victims with Rs 4 lakh. File
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today launched the party's online campaign demanding compensation for the families of those who died of Covid and accused the government of sleeping while people coped with pain and loss.
The Congress said the aim of the "#SpeakUpforCovidNyay" campaign was to demand that the central government disclose the actual number of Covid deaths in the country and "properly compensate all families of the victims with Rs 4 lakh".
"When it comes to people's pain and loss, Government of India is sleeping. Let's wake them up," Rahul Gandhi tweeted while launching the campaign.
The Narendra Modi government has very tactfully tried to cover up its failures in managing the COVID-19 pandemic by distorting the number of Covid deaths, the party alleged.
"#SpeakUpForCovidNyay so the govt is forced to disclose the correct number of Covid deaths," it said on its official Twitter handle.
The party alleged that the government lacked the intention to support the distressed families.
"If the government doesn't have data of Covid deaths, the entire country is willing to share it with the government. There is no dearth of fund... The real issue is the government is lacking in the intention to help Covid-hit families. We demand Rs 4 lakh each for the kin of those who died of the pandemic," Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said.
The party said, "By making up false numbers, the Modi government is not only withholding compensation for lakhs of families, but it is simply trying to cover up its failure in managing and controlling the pandemic."
The Congress said that under the disaster management guidelines, the government is required to compensate the families of COVID-19 victims with Rs 4 lakh.
"The Modi government has carefully tried to wriggle its way out of compensating the fair amount and is trying to settle for compensation of a meagre amount of Rs 50,000," it alleged.
Several state Congress units and leaders across the country put out videos in support of the online campaign and to press the government for providing compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the families of the COVID-19 deceased.
The party has raised the demand in Parliament too.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)