Covid-19 victims’ kin to get ₹50k ex gratia

Covid-19 victims’ kin to get ₹50k ex gratia

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:23.09.2021

Months after states took the lead in announcing financial assistance for the families of Covid victims, and after being prodded by the Supreme Court, the Centre on Wednesday informed the SC that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has fixed an ex gratia of ₹50,000 to be paid by the states from the State Disaster Response Fund.

On June 30, the SC had ruled that the Centre cannot shy away from its responsibility under the Disaster Management Act to fix a compensation amount payable to the kin of those who succumbed to Covid.

TN providing ₹5L ex gratia to Covid-orphaned children

Covid was declared a national disaster under the Act. While rejecting petitioners’ demand for ₹4 lakh ex gratia, it had asked the NDMA to determine the quantum within six weeks and said that the amounts to be paid from the national disaster response fund (NDRF) and SDRF would be over and above the ex gratia paid by states.

The six-week deadline got extended to months and after seeking time several times, the Centre on Wednesday informed that the NDMA has fixed ₹50,000 ex gratia. Claimants have to submit an application to receive the relief, it said, adding that those eligible would get the amount through the district disaster management authority (DDMA). With the country recording nearly 4.5 lakh Covid deaths, the financial burden of this will add up to ₹2,250 crore for states, though funds for the SDRF are largely released by the Centre.

The top 10 states reporting the most Covid deaths are Maharashtra (1.38 lakh), Karnataka (37,000), Tamil Nadu (35,000), Delhi (25,000), UP (23,000), Kerala (22,500), West Bengal (19,000), Punjab (16,000), Andhra Pradesh (14,000) and Chhattisgarh (13,500).

Those providing ex gratia are Andhra Pradesh (₹10 lakh to orphaned children, ₹5 lakh in case of death of one parent), Bihar (₹4 lakh), Haryana (₹2 lakh only to BPL families), Karnataka and Assam (₹1 lakh), Tamil Nadu (₹5 lakh to orphaned children and ₹3 lakh in case of death of single parent), Tripura (₹10 lakh in three instalments) and Nagaland (₹10 lakh only to the kin of working journalists).