In a healing touch, the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday handed over a cheque worth Rs 50 lakh to the mother of a driver of PRTC who had died while discharging his services during the Covid pandemic.
Handing over the cheque to Mohinder Kaur the mother of driver Manjit Singh, on the sidelines of a function to dedicate Regional Driving Training centre here today, the Chief Minister said that deceased PRTC driver Manjit Singh, was a frontline corona warrior who laid down his life while serving the people.
He said that Manjit Singh, had died of massive heart attack on April 26, 2020 while on special duty to fetch stranded Sikh pilgrims to Punjab from Sri Hazur Sahib, Nanded amid national lockdown during Covid 19 pandemic. However, Bhagwant Mann said that the then government had offered miniscule compensation to the family which had led to statewide protests by the Aam Adami party which had sought Rs.50 lakh as compensation for the family of driver Manjit Singh.
The Chief Minister said that after assuming the charge of office his government had set the wheels in motion to give Rs 50 lakh compensation to the bereaved family. He said that his government has today fulfilled the promise made to the family by handing over the cheque of compensation to them. Pertinently, the AAP under the leadership of Bhagwant Mann at that time had strongly protested against the Congress government’s apathy and demanded Rs.50 lakh for the family of a 38 -year old driver who hailed from village Badbar of Barnala district.