The Centre has issued a public notice stating that compensation for Covid-related deaths, which took place after March 24 should be filed within 90 days, while it is 60 days for similar fatalities that occur prior to the mentioned deadline. Six lakh persons have claimed ₹50,000 each for deaths due to Covid after the Supreme Court's direction to the governments.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued the public notice, inviting people to apply and get monetary help from the government, but at the same time warned of legal action if the application turns out to be fake. A jail term of two years, along with fine is the penalty for filling false claims, according to section 52 of the Disaster Management Act of 2005.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs had also apprised its apprehension before the court on false compensation claims and had sought permission to probe bogus attempts of enrichment. The Ministry will randomly check 5 per cent of claims to weed out fake ones, said the NDA public notice. The designated authorities in Centre and States will have one month to process and settle the claims.
Greivance redressal committee have been authorised to look and approve claims, even though late, if they are genuine. Maximum applications totalling 2,41,088 came from Maharashtra. The state, however, rejected 68,069 of them and gave compensation to 1,58,296 families which accounted for official death figure of 1,42,705.