Financial assistance to families of 5 journalists announced on order of Uttarakhand CM

On the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, the Journalists Welfare Fund Committee held a meeting under the chairmanship of Director General of Information Banshidhar Tiwari, officials said on Saturday.

The meeting was held at the Information Directorate, Ring Road, Dehradun.

"During the meeting, the committee agreed to provide financial assistance to the dependents of a total of five journalists from the Journalist Welfare Fund (Corpus Fund). Also, it has been agreed to give pensions to three senior journalists under the 'Chief Minister Journalist Samman Pension Scheme,'" officials said.

It is noteworthy that the Journalist Welfare Fund (Corpus Fund) was established in 2008 for journalists and dependents of deceased journalists. At present, an amount of about Rs 24 lakhs is deposited in the form of interest earned from the principal amount of Rs 7 crore and FD of Rs 1 crore and Rs 25 lakh.

Officials said that financial assistance is being given to journalists and their dependents from the amount of interest earned from the principal amount of the Corpus Fund and at present, a pension of Rs 8,000 per month is being paid to 15 eligible journalists of the state.

During this, Additional Director Information Ashish Kumar Tripathi and Finance Controller Shashi Singh were present as members of the committee. (ANI)