Telangana government authorises Collectors to provide Covid ex gratia

Hyderabad: In providing ex gratia to the kin of deceased persons who died due to Covid-19, the State government has given permission to all District Collectors to provide the ex gratia amount of Rs 50,000 from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) duly following the guidelines.

The guidelines were issued by the State government after The Hans India on its November 10 edition carried a report that read about the uncertainty created over not issuing procedural guidelines to be followed by the kin of deceased to claim the amount.

The government further issued an order instructing the district-level committees to receive the application online. The District Collector will approve the ex gratia assistance to the next of kin of the deceased person in respect to eligible cases, which must be settled within 30 days of submission of required documents and disbursed through Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefit Transfer procedures.

That government said that Covid-19 is a disaster that has not abated. "The total number of deaths continues to rise. There is uncertainty about new variants of the virus and likely future waves. Therefore, it is not possible to ascertain the total final financial burden emanating from ex gratia assistance. Financial prudence demands that we plan in a manner that assistance can be provided to a larger number of people should the number of deaths rise," the Government Order read.

The government also said the ex gratia assistance to families affected by Covid-19 deaths would continue to be provided for deaths that may occur in the future phases of the pandemic as well or until further notification.