MK Stalin, the soon-to-be Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, declared on Tuesday that editors, photojournalists, and camerapersons working in print and broadcast media in the state will be considered as frontline staff. They’d be responsible for all of the benefits and privileges that come with becoming a frontline worker, including priority COVID-19 vaccine.
In the case of a Covid-related death, media workers will get priority care and compensation at the expense of the state.
Around 10,000 journalists work in Tamil Nadu. COVID-19 has claimed the lives of at least ten of them. In Chennai alone, at least 500 journalists have tested positive.
“On taking over as Chief Minister, Mr MK Stalin should also give a government order towards this to make it official,” said Bharathi Thamizhan, Joint Secretary of the Chennai Press Club, who had made a submission on this to Mr Stalin on Monday.
The state government had cleared the way for reporters on the ground to be inoculated ahead of the election, recognising them as frontline staff. The list of frontline staff, though, did not contain journalists.
“The fourth pillar of democracy is risking its life amid pandemic and work hard in rain and heat to disseminate information and create awareness among the people,” MK Stalin said.
The number of COVID-19 infections in Tamil Nadu continued to increase sharply on Tuesday, with 21,228 new cases added, bringing the total to 12,49,292. In the last 24 hours, 144 COVID-related deaths have been confirmed, bringing the total number of deaths to 14,612, according to the health department.
MK Stalin, who met with senior bureaucrats, urged them to ensure the availability of beds, oxygen, and ICUs, as well as distributing anti-viral drugs Remdesivir and others in key cities, as Chennai has done.
The state government declared new restrictions from the 6th to the 20th of this month, including the closure of all shops except stand-alone provision stores, fruit, milk, and vegetable shops, which can remain open until noon. With the positivity levels crossing 10% in districts and the use of ICU and oxygen crossing 60% in districts, the state government announced new restrictions last night, including the closure of all shops except stand-alone provision stores, food, milk, and vegetable shops, which can remain open until noon. Government and private departments should only operate on half of their employees. On Sundays, the complete lockout will be maintained.
