The families of over 5,400 people from Kolkata who died of Covid since the pandemic struck in March 2020 have been compensated so far, an official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said.
The Supreme Court had fixed May 24 as the deadline for such families to submit applications claiming compensation for any deaths that occurred till March 19, KMC officials said.
The nearest kin of every person who died from Covid is eligible for an ex gratia of Rs 50,000.
Those who missed the May 24 deadline can file an application to a grievance redress committee of the KMC if the deceased persons were residents of Kolkata. The residents of other districts of West Bengal will have to approach the grievance redressal committee of the district administration. Their claims will be processed only if the committee finds that they could not file the application by May 24 owing to some “extreme hardship”
“It is clarified that in case of extreme hardship any claimant could not make an application within the time prescribed, it will be open for the claimant to approach the grievance Redressal Committee,” the Supreme Court had said in an order passed on March 24.
For deaths that occurred after March 19, the ex gratia application has to be submitted within 90 days of the death. “For future deaths, ninety days’ time is provided from the date of death due to COVID-19 to file the claim for compensation,” the court had said.
“We have so far paid the ex gratia to 5,426 applicants. We received 5,581 applications till May 24,” said a KMC official. The KMC has also received 72 applications for the ex-gratia that have been addressed to the civic body’s grievance redressal committee as the applications were made after May 24.
Another KMC official said that 5,659 people had passed away in Kolkata from Covid till March 19.
The number of people who died from Covid between March 19 and Sunday was not immediately available with the KMC.
The authorities have to pay the ex gratia within 30 days of receiving the claim, the court had said.
The Supreme Court had in 2021 asked the union government and the state governments to “pay ex gratia amount keeping in mind the humanity and keeping in mind the sufferings of the family members who lost one of their family members due to COVID-19”.
The families or kin can download the form — available both in Bengali and English — from the website of the department of disaster management of the state government.
The application must include the death certificate of the deceased person where it should be mentioned that the person died from Covid-19; the voter card or Aadhaar card of the deceased person; the voter card or Aadhaar card of the kin of the deceased person; a photocopy of the first page of the bank account’s passbook where the ex gratia payment will be made or a cancelled cheque of the bank account; affidavit of magistrate or notary public in support of the relation of the person claiming the ex gratia as the next kin of the deceased person and a legal heir certificate.
While passing its March 24 order the Supreme Court had said that anyone found making a false claim for obtaining ex gratia shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years. He/she will also be fined.