In the wake of rising Covid-19 cases and an increase in fatalities, several journalist associations in Telangana have urged the state government to recognise journalists as frontline warriors.
In a letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, the journalists have appealed to the government to take all the measures necessary to provide assistance and support to the state's scribes.
Journalist associations, including the TUSWJ and the IJU, have, in unison, appealed to the KCR government to provide "generous" help to the families of deceased journalists, and have demanded that Rs 25 lakh of ex gratia aid be released immediately to the bereaved families. They also asked that Rs 25,000 be given to each journalist who had tested positive for Covid-19 in the state.
The bodies also urged the government to provide medical insurance of Rs 50 lakh to the community, and to hold special camps to immediately treat the journalists in private hospitals free of cost.
To highlight the urgent need for the implementation of the steps suggested by them, the journalists' representatives informed the CM that 55 journalists had died so far and that about 3,800 journalists and their families had tested positive.
The organisations expressed their hope that their letter would prompt the KCR government to instruct the concerned officials to declare journalists as frontline Covid-19 warriors, and to provide timely support to the state's scribes as well.