The state government is cracking down on people who received COVID-19 ex-gratia compensation more than once but are now refusing to return the excess money.
The government has issued notices to 2,508 people for misleading authorities, instructing them to either return the money or face action. So far 26 people have returned a cumulative Rs13 lakh, an official said.
The government has now told the rest that first information reports will be filed against them for cheating.
“We understand that some people received compensation twice. We checked bank transactions to confirm the instances where this happened,” an official said.
“We have started to receive refunds, but many are yet to return the money. We have issued notices and instructed them to do so with immediate effect to avoid any further action," added the official.
“We are still scrutinising the transactions and hope these figures don’t increase. Compensation was made on the basis of Aadhaar. But in many cases the deceased did not have the card, so we cannot be sure,” he said.
The state government had declared an ex gratia of Rs 50,000 for relatives of those who died in the pandemic.
