NEW DELHI: Over the past five years, the Delhi government has extended financial aid to several people in distress, including families of those killed in fire accidents, riot victims, gang rape survivors, and individuals seeking help for their daughter’s marriage.
According to an official document, the L-G/CM Relief Fund, managed by the Finance Department, supported about 345 individuals between 2019-20 and 2023-24, disbursing a total of Rs 16.6 crore.
In 2019-20, assistance was released to 220 people, mostly Rs 20,000 each to applicants seeking support for their daughter’s marriage.
The same year, 39 families of victims of the Anaj Mandi fire were given Rs 8 lakh each, while 16 injured survivors received Rs 50,000 each. The fire, which broke out in a bag manufacturing unit in Sadar Bazar when workers were asleep inside, killed nearly 40 people.
The government also disbursed Rs 15 lakh to the father of photographer Ankit Saxena, murdered in 2018, and Rs 5 lakh each to families of three victims of a Jhilmil fire. Additionally, Rs 10 lakh was given to the mother of a child rape victim, while another survivor was paid Rs 8.2 lakh.
In 2020-21, family/relatives of the four minor boys, who drowned in the Yamuna river in 2019, were given aid Rs 8 lakh. The minors were all aged between 12 and 14. In the same year, Rs 8 lakh was paid to the father of a child victim of a sexual act, and Rs 15 lakh to Telangana from the CM Relief Fund. Overall, 45 people were given financial assistance in that fiscal year.
In 2021-22, the number of beneficiaries was 41. During this pandemic time, the government compensated Rs 10 lakh to the wife of a person who died due to a cardiac attack while on duty at Swami Dayanand Hospital in the Dilshad Garden area. A gangrape victim had also received a similar amount. One distressed family consisting of seven siblings who lost both their parents due to COVID-19 received Rs 1 lakh.
In 2022-23, the government assisted 30 people; one of them was the family of Sakshi, who was brutally stabbed to death by her boyfriend in Northwest Delhi’s Shahbad Dairy in the middle of a market.
The entire incident was caught on a CCTV camera, where the accused could be seen continuously stabbing and then crushing the victim’s head with a concrete block. They received Rs 10 lakh by the government.
Relief Fund Highlights
Fire Victims: Families received Rs 8 lakh each in compensation
Injured Survivors: Anaj Mandi fire victims got Rs 50,000 each
Murder Case: Ankit Saxena’s father was granted Rs 15 lakh
Drowning Tragedy: Four minors’ families were compensated Rs 8 lakh
COVID Relief: Hospital worker’s widow received Rs 10 lakh assistance
Orphaned Siblings: Seven children lost parents, received Rs 1 lakh support
Rape Survivors: Victims and families granted financial aid up to Rs 10 lakh
Riot Victims: Kin of 2020 riots deceased given aid