CM Adityanath hands over cheques of Rs 10 lakh each to kin of 55 journalists who died due to COVID-19

Lucknow, July 31: Families of 55 journalists who died due to COVID-19 received a financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh each from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday.

"We have witnessed many editors, journalists, and members of the media fraternity losing their lives due to coronavirus while fulfilling their duty. The loss cannot be compensated, but we can provide support to the families," the chief minister said.

The government is committed to provide all support to journalists and will continue to encourage them, he added. The cheques were handed over to the beneficiaries at an event organised at the Lok Bhawan, the state government said in a statement.

Praising the efforts of journalists, the chief minister said, "The media did the work of sharing true and factual news during the crisis on the basis of which, the government got an opportunity to prepare a strategy and successfully implement it in a time-bound and planned manner."

"While we controlled the first wave, we also started the vaccination programme for health workers, corona warriors along with the media as it is a vigilant watchdog of democracy," the chief minister said, adding that over 25,000 journalists were vaccinated during the drive.

Regarding vaccine wastage in Uttar Pradesh, Adityanath said, "The prime minister had asked about the vaccine wastage status in the state and also gave suggestions to bring it down to zero. In one vial, we started vaccinating 11 people to completely stop the wastage."

We have sufficient stock of vaccines and the speed with which the vaccination programme is going on, the government will be able to cover everyone soon, he added. The chief minister was accompanied by President of the National Broadcast Association and India TV Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma, the statement said.