No other country managed to try to to what India did in terms of its response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Supreme Court said on Thursday, in rich praise for the govt., because it reserved the order on a case involving the ₹ 50,000 compensation proposed for COVID-19 deaths.
“Today we are very happy. there’ll be some solace to the persons who have suffered… Everything the govt is performing. We’re happy that something is being done to wipe out tears of the one that suffered,” Justice MR Shah said.
Justices Shah and AS Bopanna also appreciated India’s response to the coronavirus pandemic that drew intense scrutiny over thousands of deaths because of the shortage of preparedness for the second wave and shortages of essentials like medical oxygen.
“Given the dimensions of our population, vaccine expenses, economic situation and therefore the adverse circumstances that we faced… we took exemplary steps… No other country managed to try to to what India did,” the judges said.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has recommended that ₹ 50,000 lean to the family of these who died of COVID-19, the centre had informed the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
It said that compensation also will lean to the family of these who died of the virus and were involved in COVID-19 relief operations or activities related to the preparedness for coping with the pandemic.
The government said that NDMA has issued the rules on 9-11 following the directions of the highest court given on June 30 wherein it had directed the authority to recommend guidelines for the financial assistance.
The assistance won’t be limited to families suffering from COVID-19 deaths within the first and second wave of the pandemic but will continue in future phases of the pandemic similarly, the authority said.
The compensation are going to be provided by states from State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and every one claims are going to be settled within 30 days of submission of required documents, and disbursed through Aadhaar linked Direct Benefit Transfer procedures, it added.
The centre’s response came to visit a batch of pleas by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal and intervenors represented by advocate Sumeer Sodhi seeking compensation to relations of COVID-19 victims.
