SEC meets to finalise payment of ₹50K to families who have had a Covid death

The State Executive Committee (SEC) will meet on Wednesday to finalise the methodology of payment of the ex-gratia amount of ₹50,000 to families, where a family member’s death has been certified as being due to Covid-19

PUNE The State Executive Committee (SEC) will meet on Wednesday to finalise the methodology of payment of the ex-gratia amount of ₹50,000 to families, where a family member’s death has been certified as being due to Covid-19

SEC will meet on Wednesday to finalise the methodology of payment of the ex-gratia amount of ₹50,000 to families, where a family member’s death has been certified as being due to Covid-19 (HT (FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSE))

This payout, which is to be done under the aegis of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), has been announced by the Union government in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, also specifying that the payment would be made to families of any government staff involved with prevention and protection relief work from Covid-19, where the person in question died of the virus.

A senior official from the state relief and rehabilitation department requesting anonymity said on Tuesday that the policy framework for the state would be finalised at this meeting.

As of September 27, Maharashtra has recorded 138,902 deaths due to Covid. The Union government contributes 75% of the SDRF allocation for general category states and union territories and 90% for special category states and UTs. It is anticipated that the payout of ex-gratia would burden the already-stretched SDRF.

“We have received certain guidelines and we will finalise it tomorrow,” said Aseem Kumar Gupta, secretary, state relief and rehabilitation department.

According to the state health department, as of September 27, Pune district has recorded 19,418 deaths due to Covid of which 9,151 deaths have been recorded in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits.