Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday sanctioned ex-gratia of Rs 15 lakh each to 17 working journalists of the State who died of Covid-19.
The list of journalists who have been sanctioned ex-gratia include-four from Bhubaneswar Manas Jaypuria, Zee Odisha, Basanta Das, Freelance, Bijayan Laxmi Mohanty, Ajikali, Pritiman Mohapatra, Times of India, 3 from Balangir, Subhransu Sekhara Mishra, Sambad, Jateesh Chandra Khamari, Sambad, Kailash Chandra Sahoo, Pragatibadi, 7 from Ganjam, Gobind Behera, TV News 6 (Web), Pradeep Kishore Sahu, Sambad, Kishore Chandra Dash, Samaj, Naresh Kumar Behera, Odisha Files, Ratnakar Moharana, Kalinga Jyoti, Nandini, Nilaya Ranjan Pattnaik, Block Correspondent, Karunakar Sahoo, Anupam Bharat, one from Kalahandi, Bhanuprakash Rath, Naxatra TV and 2 from Jajpur, Ashok Kumar Sahoo, Manthan, Pravat Kumar Routray, Loka Sampark (Jajpur).
This financial assistance will be disbursed to the next of kin of the deceased journalists. A sum of Rs. 2.55 Crore has been sanctioned from Journalist Welfare Fund. Few such cases have been received by the I & PR Department which will be disbursed after due verification.
After required enquiry at the district level, eligible applications will be considered for disbursement of the ex-gratia compassionate assistance.
