Government lays down guidelines for providing compensation for death due to COVID-19

Responding to a question on whether the Supreme Court has directed the Centre to pay compensation to deceased COVID-19 victims, Minister of State for Health, Bharati Pravin Pawar said in pursuance of the court judgment dated June 30, the government through the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued 'Guidelines to provide for ex-gratia assistance to kin of the deceased by COVID-19'.

The NDMA has recommended Rs 50,000 per deceased person, including those involved in relief operations or associated in preparedness activities, subject to cause of death certified as COVID-19, she said in a written reply.

The ex gratia assistance shall be provided by states from State Disaster Response Funds. This assistance is required to be disbursed within a period of 30 days from the date of submitting the application to the District Disaster Management Authority/ district administration concerned along with proof of death of the deceased due to COVID-19 and the cause of death certified as died due to COVID-19', Pawar explained.

Further, all the states have been advised to constitute grievance redressal for solving issues related to payment of ex gratia in case of any dispute.

"Death certificates indicating COVID-19 deaths either already issued prior to coming into force of these guidelines or as ratified by district level committee shall be treated as valid document for considering any death as 'death due to COVID-19'," the minister added.