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Odisha CM Declares Journalists As Frontline Warriors





Odisha CM Declares Journalists As Frontline Warriors

Throughout the pandemic, journalists have braved the virus to report news across the State and many lost their lives in the line of duty. Over the last few days, there have been calls to declare journalists as frontline warriors. On Sunday, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik declared all working journalists as frontline Covid warriors.

While bringing news from the ground, they are highly vulnerable to contracting COVID 19. Approving a proposal to this effect, the Chief Minister said that journalists were doing a great service to the state by providing seamless news feed and making people aware of coronavirus related issues, despite the surge in the pandemic.

As many as 6,944 working journalists of the state have been covered under the Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana and are getting health insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh each. Besides, an ex gratia of Rs 15 lakh is also being provided to the next of kin of journalists who die of COVID-19 while performing duty.

After being declared as frontline workers by the state government, journalists will now get priority in the vaccination programme, sources said. As many as 17 newspersons have succumbed to the infection in Odisha as of 1st May 2021.

As coronavirus infections surge, the Editors Guild of India recently asked the central government to declare journalists as frontline workers, thereby bringing them under the priority group for receiving anti-Covid jabs. The guild also urged all media organisations to take necessary steps to ensure the safety of their scribes.

Speaking on the move taken by the government, Md. Jawed Ahmed, a reporter, said, “This is welcome news as this was a pending request that we had been making to the government to promptly pass this proposal. The CM has proved his brilliance in managing the pandemic and taking prompt steps in managing the resources and providing assistance to not only to the people of the state but also outside the state. This proposal encourages us journalists to work better with the government recognizing our contribution as well.”

This step taken by the Odisha government is hugely applauded as there have been consistent requests to the government to declare the journalists as frontline Covid warriors and provide vaccination to them without any age restriction. 

Author: Aafreen Firdaus

Aafreen is a doting mother to several kitties and a doggo who loves to pamper everyone with delicious food. She is a free spirit and a wizard of words and she loves to tell beautiful stories through her writing. She is also a loving and caring soul, always ready to pitch in with a helping hand and a smile on her face.

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