1.6L ex gratia applications against 1.4L Covid deaths

1.6L ex gratia applications against 1.4L Covid deaths

Nisha.Nambiar@timesgroup.com

Pune:25.12.2021

The Maharashtra government has received 1.62lakh applications for Rs50,000 ex-gratia from the kin of covid deceased against 1.41lakh covid deaths registered in the state.

Officials said some of these applications may either be duplicate or there could be more applications from kin. Over 50,000 applications are being scrutinised over multiple claims, said officials.

Local authorities have been grappling with incomplete details, duplicate applications and incomplete forms, affecting disbursement of exgratia, officials said. The data will be verified with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) portal before disbursement of ex-gratia.

All local authorities have been asked to double check and verify family members’ details and then disburse the amount. A senior state government official from the state disaster management authority said that multiple IDs linked to a single patient and multiple claimants have been uploaded by many local authorities. “The local teams will check on the claimants and if there are any issues, they can approach the district level grievance committee members. Only after due checks and agreement between claimants will the amount be disbursed,” said an official.

Recently, Latur district collector BP Pruthviraj sought a report after it came to light that names of people still alive were on the list of covid deceased.