Covid-19 curve flattening, Maharashtra may stop ex gratia payment

Data available with The Indian Express showed that of the 2,64,622 lakh applications received for ex gratia claims, the state has approved 2,08,585 applications. A total of Rs1,043 crore has been disbursed so far in Maharashtra against the initial estimation of Rs 700 crore.

“We are hardly getting any new applications for the ex gratia. We have around 4,000 approved applications for disbursement which we are hoping to complete by the end of next week,” said an official  from the Relief and Rehabilitation Department, which is responsible for the implementation of the scheme.

In 2021, the Supreme Court approved the Centre’s scheme of granting Rs 50,000 ex gratia to the kin of all those who died due to Covid-19. Later, the court expanded the ambit of Covid-19 deaths in response to a petition filed by advocate Gaurav Bansal. As per the directive, “no state shall deny the benefit solely on the ground that a person’s death certificate did not specify the cause of death as due to the novel coronavirus disease”.

The court ruled that deaths occurring within 30 days from getting tested or clinically determined as Covid-19 case, shall be considered as Covid-19 death, even if the death happened outside a health facility. Hence, the kin of those who died by suicide after testing positive for Covid-19 were also eligible for the compensation.

Explaining the reason for higher approval number than the reported casualties, an official said, “At first, we were expected to provide ex gratia to kin who had the death certificate with the mention of Covid-19 as the cause of death. Later it changed under the directive       of the Supreme Court. As per the new directives, the kin of victims of unnatural deaths who have tested positive for Covid-19 posthumously, are also made eligible for compensation… This increased the number of approvals.”

A total of 60,483 appeals were made at the district-level grievance redressal cell (GRC)— a committee consisting of additional district collector, chief medical officer of health, head of department of machine of a medical college among others. Of these, 42,954 have been       approved.

“A total of 13,777 claims have been rejected by GRC which are mostly because of lack of documents or more than one application against the same person. In some cases, we have also found malicious intentions,” said the officer.

Maharashtra’s disaster management department has recovered around Rs 84 lakh from the kin of Covid-19 victims who filed duplicate claims — more than one claim was filed for the same victim — for ex gratia. The department has identified 2,053 duplicate ex gratia claims, of which only 166 have returned the extra claims.

Also Read

After ‘spitting row’, Sanjay Raut, Ajit Pawar lock horns in new MVA faceoff

Man accused in cheating case flees through train’s toilet window as cops ...

BJP MLA Nitesh Rane raises 'love jihad' charge, leads rally in Pune

Engineering student arrested for killing her boyfriend

“The ex gratia amount has helped many families, especially those who lost their sole breadwinners. Despite the budgetary difficulties, Maharashtra is likely the only state to spend over Rs 1,000 crore under the scheme,” said the official.