Demand to provide `50 lakh insurance for ration shop ownersinsurance for ration shop owners

Nagpur, Feb 10

It has been a year that people are dealing with Covid pandemic and still it is not over. Ration shop owners played a crucial role in distribution of ration to poor and needy.

However, a total of 93 ration shop owners in the state lost their lives during Covid pandemic while serving people and now their family members are under big stress and on the verge of collapse.

On this account, Vidarbha Ration Dukandar Sanghatan and Kerosene Vikreta Sanghatan have demanded an insurance cover for families of the deceased shop owners from the government on the lines of insurance cover provided to police and doctor.

President of the Sanghatan, Sanjay Patil has written to the government demanding insurance for the families. Patil said, “The Central government for ensuring that every person should get ration during this period had started providing free ration to poor through Public Distribution System (PDS) and ration shop owners played very significant role in this without caring about their lives. Due to this many shop owners contracted the deadly virus and 93 shop owners in the state lost their lives.”

Total 32 shop owners from Pune region, 26 from Mumbai, eight from Raigadh, six from Nagpur and eight from Amravati lost their lives while serving people.

Patil asked that if doctors and police have received insurance cover worth `50 crore while serving people by the Central government, why it cannot provide the same to ration shop owners?