Kin of Covid victims asked to apply for ex-gratia by May 28

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government on Friday urged the kin of Covid-19 victims to apply before their respective Collector or Municipal Commissioner for the ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 by May 28.As ordered by the Supreme Court, the family members of people who died before March 20 and not received the ex-gratia can apply both offline and online.  

The State government has developed an application - Covid-19 ex-gratia assistance payment system (www.caps.odisha.gov.in) - using a prescribed application form for online approval and direct benefit transfer to the bank accounts of the applicants. For deaths after March 20, the applicants will get 90 days time from the date of death due to Covid-19 to file the claim for compensation.

“In case of extreme hardship, if any claimant could not make an application within the time prescribed, it will be open for him/her to approach the district level grievance redressal committee and the case will be considered on merit,” said a health official.

The applicants will have to submit the identity proof, Covid-19 death certificate, proof of relationship with the deceased and bank account details. The ex-gratia amount will be paid through DBT within 30 days of receiving the application through physical mode or the app after verification.

The apex court had recently asked the states to fix the deadline after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta submitted that if there is no outer time limit fixed, then the process of receiving the claims would go endless and in that case, there is all possibility of submitting false claims.

Meanwhile, expressing displeasure over delayed payment of ex-gratia to the kin of Covid-19 victims by some of the districts, the State government has asked to expedite the verification process.

Of the 18,289 applications received from 30 districts so far, 620 are pending for approval and 459 have been rejected. As many as 17,210 applications have been approved for ex-gratia and kin of 16,656 deceased persons have been disbursed ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 each. Two persons have refused to accept the compensation.

The State has reported 22 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours with Khurda, Cuttack and Sambalpur recording the maximum four cases each. Five districts do not have any active cases and no death has been registered in the last one week.

APPLICATION METHOD

People can apply through www.caps.odisha.gov.in
Application open in both offline and online formats
Documents needed are identity proof, Covid death certificate, proof of relationship with deceased, bank account details

18,289 applications received from 30 districts so far