The government has issued an order and formulated an application submission mechanism for quick disbursement of the ex-gratia amount of ₹50,000 to the next of kin of the people who died of COVID-19.
This follows the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) framing guidelines for ex-gratia assistance to the kin of COVID-19 victims as directed by the Supreme Court. Under the norms, ex-gratia payment would be given to the next of kin of the COVID-19 deceased, including those involved in relief operations or associated in preparedness activities related to pandemic management, a press note from District Collector Purva Garg said.
A COVID-19 death ascertaining committee / grievance redress committee with regard to the certification of death has been constituted for the Puducherry Region with District Collector, Puducherry, as chairperson and J. Ramesh, chief of Government Pharmacy, Gorimedu; B. Kavitha, associate professor; and M. Vivekanandan, professor, Jipmer, as its members.
The ex gratia will be provided by the states from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the District Disaster Management Authority would disburse the payment on submission of an application by the concerned family along with the details of death and all claims would be settled within 30 days of submission of required documents.
The money is to be disbursed through Aadhaar-linked direct benefit transfer. Further, the NDMA has stated that in case of any grievance with regard to the certification of death, a district-level committee has to be formed to propose necessary remedial measures.
The Collector recently conducted a meeting with the members of the COVID-19 death ascertaining committee, along with the Deputy Collector (North/South) and officials from the Health and Local Administration departments and elaborated on the modus operandi to process claim, verification, sanction and final disbursement of the ex-gratia payment.
It will be through a robust yet simple and people-friendly procedure for settling of claims within 30 days of submission of application. The eligible claimants can get the application format from the taluk offices. The duly filled-in applications along with all necessary documents should be submitted to the jurisdictional tahsildars of taluk offices whose name and address are given below.
Puducherry taluk - A. Kumaran, 100 Ft Rd, Mudaliarpet (2356314/9994475734); Oulgaret - R.Coumarane, ECR Road, (2254449/9994077548); Villianur - G.S.Karthigeyan, South Car Street 2666364/7639714443) and Bahour - A.Suresh Raj, Church Street (2633453/9626094844).
In case of any grievance with regard to the certification of death, the applicant may contact Dr. Ramesh, (9443215450).
For any other grievances relating to the procedure of claim, people may contact N. Tamilselvan, Deputy Collector, Disaster Management, Collectorate (9442485185).