Dehradun, Aug 2 (PTI) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Monday launched Mukhya Mantri Vatsalya Yojana to support children who lost their parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Announced in May this year by former chief minister Tirath Singh Rawat, the scheme will give financial protection to 2,347 such children in the state, Dhami said after launching the Yojana in the presence of Cabinet ministers Rekha Arya, Ganesh Joshi and Dhan Singh Rawat.

Children covered under the scheme will get an allowance of Rs 3,000 per month up to the age of 21.

The state government will also take care of their education and reserve five percent of government jobs for them under the scheme.

In the first phase, 1,062 children got financial support under the scheme, the chief minister said.

The void created by the loss of one's parents is impossible to fill but the government will take care of such children as their guardians, he said.

"We are trying to bring a smile to the faces of children who lost their parents to the pandemic and build their future," Dhami said, adding Uttarakhand is the first state to introduce a scheme like this.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)