After being pulled up by the Supreme Court for the low disbursal rate of COVID-19 death-related ex gratia, the State government is planning to deploy Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) across the State to ensure that the family of the deceased apply for money.
The court, which considered the case last week, was unhappy with the fact that only 10,778 applications for ex gratia were received against the 40,855 COVID-19 deaths that occurred in the State. The apex court had asked the State government to follow the Gujarat model of giving enough publicity to the matter within a week and to report the developments when the case was considered again.
Application on portal
ASHA workers and those from the Local Self-Government Institutions should visit houses in their areas and ensure that families of those who died of COVID-19 applied for ex gratia through the portal relief.kerala.gov.in, according to an order issued by the Additional Chief Secretary A. Jayathilak.
One programmer each will be deputed in all the districts for two weeks to sort out software-related issues connected to the portal. All pending applications shall be cleared and money disbursed. The officials should submit the Action Taken Report with supporting data before January 10, it was instructed.
Declined claims
Incidentally, the State had allotted money in 8,871 cases against the 13,655 claims approved till Friday. It had declined 238 claims from the 16,412 applications it received. As many as 19,69 complaints were recorded.
In the below the poverty line (BPL) category, no funds were disbursed till date though 145 claims were accepted. Of the 5,579 claims filed in the category, 81 were denied, according to the website.
The village officers will transfer the claim forms to the District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) after verification and the district authorities will issue the final clearance. The ex gratia will be transferred to the bank accounts of the family of the deceased.
