Family of seven faces survival battle after Covid causes triple tragedy
LUCKNOW: There is an unbearable weight on the shoulders of a 70-year-old retired Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) driver after Covid-19 triggered a triple tragedy for his family.
Now, at an age when he has no pension, the future of his four grandchildren depends on him, and he doesn’t know how he will make ends meet.
Residents of Lucknow’s Rajajipuram, the family of seven surviving members is on the brink of poverty after his two sons and a daughter-in-law died within 12 days between April 11 and 23 when the state capital was facing a serious shortage of oxygen and hospital beds.
The two sons, one a shopkeeper and the other a privately employed driver, were the only breadwinners. “My younger son’s wife was the first one in the family who succumbed to Covid-19 on April 11. She was 35. We got her admitted in a hospital. She was responding well to medicines. But the next day, there was an acute shortage of oxygen and she succumbed. Who knew then it was just the beginning of a series of tragedies to follow,” he says inconsolably.
“When we returned home after cremating her, my younger son also fell sick. He, too, was admitted in hospital and succumbed to Covid-19 on April 16. He was 40. He was running a general merchant shop from our house at Rajajipuram,” he says.
The elder son, a private driver, also died due to Covid-19 on April 23.
The retired UPSRTC driver is looking for help from the state government for the survival of his grandchildren.
“I will now have to look after the four grandchildren as I lost my two sons and a daughter-inlaw to Covid-19. The younger son and daughter-in-law have a daughter aged six years and a son aged 13 years. The elder son has a 14-year-old daughter and a 17-year-old son,” he says.
His 65-year-old wife is afflicted with paralysis. Their eldest daughter-in-law is now looking after the entire family.
He claims the grandchildren have not been covered by the Uttar Pradesh government scheme meant for such orphaned children as they could not move the papers with government officials on time. Nevertheless, he wants the state government to help the family.
Only recently, three of the children got admission at the St Joseph College as the manager of the school assured 100% fee waiver for the orphaned children and 50% concession to those kids who lost either of the parents to Covid-19.
The Uttar Pradesh government on May 29 launched a welfare scheme for children who have either lost both of their parents to Covid-19 or the earning parent. Under the Uttar Pradesh Mukhyamantri Bal Seva Yojana, the government will provide a monthly financial assistance of ₹4,000 to a child’s guardian or caretaker till he or she attains adulthood, a spokesperson had said.
Elaborating on the scheme, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had said, “Children who have lost both of their parents to Covid-19, a surviving parent, legal guardian in case the parents have already died earlier, will be included in this scheme. Children, who have lost the earning parent of their family, will also be included in the scheme. The state government is committed to better health, better education and for the bright future of the children.”
“I will now have to look after the four grandchildren as I lost my two sons and a daughter-inlaw to Covid-19. RETIRED UPSRTC DRIVER