The Maharashtra government has decided to give Rs 50,000 aid to kin or immediate relatives of people who lost their lives due to COVID-19, news agency ANI reported on Friday evening.
As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Friday, as many as 1,40,857 people have died due to COVID-19 in the state.
Meanwhile, the state government in the government resolution released today said the aid will be provided to the next of kin of the COVID-19 victims only if the RT-PCR report of the deceased was positive even though the death certificate does not mention the cause of the death as the coronavirus pandemic.
Relief and Rehabilitation Minister Vijay Wadettiwar said, ‘’The Maha Vikas Aghadi government has decided to give ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 to kin or immediate relatives of people who died due to COVID-19. The scheme is designed to deposit the aid directly in the bank account of the beneficiaries. Relatives of the deceased can apply online on the web portal being developed by the state government, or at the Setu Center, through common service centre in the Gram Panchayat.’’
This comes after the the Centre in September, in an affidavit, recommended Rs 50,000 ex-gratia compensation to the families of COVID-19 victims, and the amount has to be distributed by states from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
The National Disaster Management Authority, in its guidelines for ex-gratia assistance to next of kin of Covid victims, had said: "The authority recommends an amount of Rs 50,000 per deceased person including those involved in relief operations or associated in preparedness activities, subject to cause of death being certified as Covid-19".
On the source of funds, the guidelines had said that "the ex-gratia assistance shall be provided by states from State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF)".
