Odisha Covid deaths: Kin can apply for Rs 50K ex-gratia from November 3

BHUBANESWAR: Next of kin of those who died due to Covid-19 may apply for payment of ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 to the district collectors and municipal commissioners from November 3. Compensations will be paid within 30 days of applications, officials said.
Special relief commissioner PK Jena on Monday wrote to the district collectors to disburse the compensation from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
The IT department has developed an application called CAPS (Covid-19 ex-gratia payment system) for online approval and direct benefit transfer to the bank accounts of the applicants.
One can apply both offline (physically or by post) and online (https://caps.odisha.gov.in) using a prescribed application form and submit proof of covid-19 death, documents to establish NOK with the deceased and bank account details.
Within five days of any application, the collector offices will send them to the tehsildars. The tehsildars will verify the applications and forward the same to the sub-collectors in a week who in turn would forward the same to the additional district magistrates with their remarks in four days. The ADMs have to clear the same within four days while the collectors would approve in another four days. While the bills will be generated within three days after that and the amount will be credited to the eligible beneficiaries’ bank accounts within another three days.
Each district would appoint a nodal officer to deal with the ex-gratia matters. After submission of an application form, one can track the status online using the application number.
According to the Central guidelines, anyone testing positive for Covid-19 and dying within a month would be considered Covid deaths regardless of whether the death occurred outside hospital or during hospitalization. To avail the compensation, one has to get official documents for covid-19 deaths by applying to the district collectors. NOKs of all Covid deceased since the first Covid death was reported in the country and till Covid is de-notified as a disaster are eligible for he compensation, decided by the Centre after a Supreme Court direction on October 4.