NE NEWS SERVICE
AHMEDABAD, JULY 27
The Gujarat government is considering awarding compensation to kin of artists and artistes, such as painters and theatre actors, who died of COVID-19, with a condition that the annual income of the deceased should be less than Rs 2 lakh, an official said on Tuesday.
While this proposal is in the primary stage and the amount of compensation has not been decided yet, authorities have already instructed district-level officers to start collecting information about potential beneficiaries.
“A proposal to compensate the kin of artists who died due to coronavirus is under consideration of the state government. Though the details are still being worked out and the amount of compensation is not finalised yet, officials at district-level are already instructed to collect the information about such artists,” said PR Joshi, Commissioner, state Youth Services and Cultural Activities.
In a written communication to the District Youth Services and district Sports officers on July 23, the Commissioner’s office sought the required information, such as name, age, income certificate and death certificate of the deceased artists, by July 31 in soft as well as hard copy. The proposed scheme applies to only those artists who were earning less than Rs 2 lakh per year.
Also, the cause of the death must be coronavirus infection. Other criteria for eligibility states that the deceased artists had spent more than 10 years in the field of dance, theatre, puppetry, folk art, painting, sculpture-making or graphic designing.
