A day later, the Supreme Court slammed the Maharashtra government for being lax in providing ex-gratia to their families. COVID-19 For the victims, the state on Thursday started disbursing financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to the families. A total of 1,600 families were paid ex-gratia in the evening.
This came nearly three months after the apex court on October 4 ordered an ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 to the families of the Covid-19 victims. The state will have to spend around Rs 700 crore to pay the families under the scheme.
Of the 1,41,204 deaths due to Covid-19 till December 9, 66,000 applications have been received from the families of the victims on the portal – mahacovid19relief.in, designed to invite such applications.
Principal Secretary (Relief and Rehabilitation) Asim Gupta said, “It is a continuous process, the number of applications will increase gradually.
Indian Express, in a series of articles since November highlighting the plight of Covid-19 widows and families of deceased patients, who were grappling with financial constraints after losing their sole breadwinner to the virus. Petitioner Gaurav Bansal had moved the Supreme Court earlier this week.
The top court had on Wednesday pulled up the state for the laxity in launching the portal, which delayed the relief disbursement process. As per the Supreme Court guidelines, after scrutiny of documents, the state is required to provide compensation within 30 days of receipt of the application.
“Once the application is received and other documents are submitted as per our earlier order dated 04.10.202, there is no question of waiting for a further period of 30 days. 30 days is the maximum time… it does not mean that the government should wait till the 30 days period is over,” the SC order said. The bench directed the state to initiate the disbursement process at the earliest without any further delay.
Gupta said, “It took time as we had to directly link the website with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data. This will help us to get all the details of the dead through their Aadhaar card Number.”
When contacted, Bansal said, “Gujarat created such a website within two days, so the state should not have taken three months to initiate the process.”
“Maharashtra has the highest number of deaths. It is needed to further publicize the scheme especially in rural areas and provide all assistance to help the next of kin as directed by the SC,” he said.
Following the Supreme Court order on Thursday, the government published advertisements about the scheme in local media. Officials said it is planning to put up posters at crowded places like bus stations, markets and hospitals, especially in rural areas.
Hundreds of families waiting for ex-gratia welcomed the SC order. Haramb Kulkarni, founder of Corona Ekal Mahila Punarvasan Samiti (CEMPS), an NGO working for Covid-19 affected families, said: “Most of the Covid-19 widows in rural Maharashtra are illiterate…we extend door-to-door help to them. are going. This relief will help in providing temporary financial assistance to hundreds of families.”
However, Kulkarni also called for the need to increase the relief to at least Rs 1 lakh. While Bihar has announced Rs 4 lakh as compensation, Karnataka has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 1.5 lakh – Rs 1 lakh will be paid by the Center and Rs 50,000 will be paid by the Centre.
“Many Covid-19 patients died due to non-availability of beds or oxygen. Now their families are struggling to survive. The government needs to take more responsibility and increase relief like other states,” Kulkarni said.
Relatives of the deceased can apply online at the web portal or Setu Kendra, a common service center in the Gram Panchayat.
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