₹50K Ex-Gratia to Kin of Covid-19 Deaths

Hyderabad: The Telangana government headed by the Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao has taken up the initiative to pay ex-gratia amount of ₹50,000 to the kin of Covid-19 deaths as per the guidelines of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) through the District collectors who are authorized to utilized the available funds of the Central government in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

However, the State government will follow the guidelines of the MOHFW and ICMR to ensure that the ex-gratia amount is released to deserving persons. 

Senior Health officials said that the ex-gratia would not be denied to the families of persons who have died of Covid-19 because their death certificate has not mentioned that the cause of death was due to SARS-CoV-2. 

To avoid any difficulties, the State government has formed the District Level Covid-19 Death Ascertaining Committee (CDACs), which will be headed by the District Collector, District Medical and Health Officer and Superintendent of District Headquarter Hospital. 

The CDAC will act as a Grievance Redressal Committee for certification of death. The relatives of the deceased will have to submit an application through Mee-Seva Centres for the issue of the official document for Covid-19 death.  

The District Collector will approve the ex-gratia assistance to next kin of the deceased person and all claims will be settled within 30 days of submission of required documents and disbursed through Aadhaar linked direct benefit transfer procedures.