The families of these who die of Covid will receive ₹ 50,000 optional from the state governments, the Centre informed the Supreme Court today. Significantly, compensation are going to be paid against not just for deaths that have already occurred except for future ones, too, the court was told.
The funds are paid by state governments, sourced from their respective disaster response funds, and can be channelled through the District Disaster Management Authority or the district administrations, the govt. said in an affidavit filed before with the Supreme Court today.
India has recorded over 4.45 lakh Covid-related deaths since the pandemic broke go into January 2020. Some states have already announced compensation for families who have lost members to Covid. These include Bihar (Rs 4 lakh per family), Madhya Pradesh (Rs 1 lakh), and Delhi (Rs 50,000).
“The optional assistance…will still be provided for deaths that will occur within the future phases of the COVID-19 pandemic likewise, or until further notification,” the Centre’s affidavit said today.
“Compensation are going to be given to families of even those deceased who were involved in Covid relief operations or associated in preparedness activities…The explanation for death must be certified as COVID-19 in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines.”
The concerned families will submit their claims through a form issued by the state authorities together with specified documents, including those certifying the reason for death.
The district disaster management authorities will make sure that the method of claim, verification, sanction, and disbursal is straightforward, robust, and people-friendly.
“All claims must be settled within 30 days of submission of the specified documents, and disbursed through the Aadhaar-linked direct benefit transfer procedures,” the Centre’s affidavit said.
Grievances, if any, are going to be handled by district-level committees consisting of Additional District Collector, Chief medic of Health (CMOH), Additional CMOH or the Principal or Head of Department of medication at a Medical College (if one existing the district), and a topic expert.
The committee will, after verifying facts, propose necessary remedial measures, including the issuance of amended official documents.
“In case the choice of the committee isn’t in favour of the claimant, a transparent reason for the identical shall be recorded,” the affidavit said.
In June the Supreme Court had ruled that families of these who died from Covid should get financial compensation, and gave the National Disaster Management Authority six weeks to make a decision on the quantity and frame the desired guidelines.
It had also said death certificates for those that died of COVID-19 must include date and reason for death, besides the mechanism to correct it if the family wasn’t satisfied.
