States To Provide Rs 50K For Each Covid Death: Centre

The second wave of the coronavirus pandemic has been devastating with many families losing their loved ones to the deadly virus. The Centre informed the SC today that all the bereaved families, who lost family members to Covid will receive Rs 50,000 ex gratia from the state governments

It further clarified that the compensation will be paid against not only the deaths that have already occurred but for future ones, too. The government said in its affidavit filed before with the Supreme Court today that the funds will be paid by state governments, sourced from their respective disaster response funds.

They will be channelled through the District Disaster Management Authority or the district administrations, it said. India has recorded over 4.45 lakh Covid-related deaths since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. And the affidavit read that the ex gratia assistance will continue to be provided for deaths that may occur in the future phases of the COVID-19 pandemic as well.

Apart from this, compensation will be given to families of those who died during the involvement in Covid relief operations. The cause of death needs to be certified as COVID-19 in accordance with Health Ministry guidelines. Once the concerned families approached, the court asked the district disaster management authorities to ensure the process of claim, verification, and sanction.

“All claims must be settled within 30 days of submission of the required documents, and disbursed through the Aadhaar-linked direct benefit transfer procedures,” the Centre’s affidavit said.