MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government has so far received 2.2 lakh applications from family members of deceased Covid-19 patients for ex gratia payment of Rs 50,000 each. As on Tuesday morning. though, Covid deaths recorded in the state totalled 1,42,151.
Claims received from certain districts are much higher than the total Covid deaths reported. Officials said the discrepancy is due to multiple claims filed by the same families.
The BMC has received 34,642 claims as against 16,546 deaths reported till Tuesday morning. Similarly, Thane corporation, which had recorded 2,132 deaths, has received 4,723 claims.
The state started disbursing the ex gratia payment to the kin of the Covid deceased from December 9 after the Supreme Court passed strictures against the delay. In 1.5 months, the state government has approved 1.07 lakh applications and another 24,000 are in the final stages of clearance and will be completed over the next two days.
Officials said the high number of applications is a result of multiple applications by the same person or applications by different relatives from the same family. Nearly 51,000 such applications have been rejected, of which 13,000 have applied for an appeal with the district committee.
Of the total applications received, 1.99 lakh have been scrutinised by doctors for the cause of deaths, the first level of verification. “Some applications are wrongly filled, lack required documents and get rejected. They can reapply with the correct documents,” said an official. He said the state has sanctioned Rs 953 crore to cover 1.9 lakh claims. “The gap between reported deaths and applications will not be as high as many other states. Maharashtra has been very transparent in reporting deaths,” he said.
