Although the State Health Department’s official COVID-19 death toll stands at 40,317, as many as 65,317 families have been paid COVID death compensation by the Directorate of Social Security and Pensions (DSSP), under the Revenue Department, till March this year.
While the directorate received 67,635 applications from families of those who died due to COVID, including 33,186 APL families, the Deputy Commissioners and Joint Commissioners in the districts and BBMP officials in Bengaluru approved 67,463 applications for compensation.
According to final data from DSSP accessed by The Hindu, compensation has been paid to 65,317 families. While 1,484 applications have been kept in abeyance as the details furnished could not be mapped with the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), 1,009 families were not traceable during verification. Besides, 851 families have refused compensation, data revealed.
SDRF provisions
After the Supreme Court orders on compensation for COVID-19 victims, the Centre amended provisions for assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), enabling States to pay compensation of ₹50,000 to the next of kin of those who died in the pandemic. While the Centre fixed ₹50,000 per death regardless of the economic background, the Karnataka government announced ₹1 lakh per family for those below the poverty line.
Subsequently, district-wise committees were set up headed by Additional Deputy Commissioners/Joint Commissioners. These committees entered 67,463 claim applications by families on the COVID compensation portal. Of these, COVID death compensation of ₹50,000 each has been paid to 65,317 families till March 30 this year after final approval, a top official from DSSP said. Besides, 14,218 BPL families of the total 65,317 approved claims also got the ₹1 lakh compensation fixed by the State government, the official said.
Highest claims in BBMP area
The highest number of claims are from BBMP limits where 15,902 applications were raised. Of these, 15,824 were approved by the official committee. And ₹50,000 compensation has been paid to families of 14,924 COVID victims. This also includes 2,812 BPL families who got the State government’s ₹1 lakh compensation, according to data. The highest number of families who refused compensation (464) are also from BBMP.
While Belagavi and Mysuru follow with 4,662 and 3,846 claims respectively, 3,060 claims have been raised from Tumakuru and 2,127 from Dharwad. The least number of claims are from Yadgir (435), Kodagu (632), Gadag (675), and Koppal (869).
Recorded by Health Dept.
Out of the official 40,317 deaths recorded by the Health Department, compensation has been paid to 30,157 families. The remaining families are either not traceable, do not have legal heirs or are from outside the State, the official added.
Officials said they had recorded only those deaths that were entered in the department’s reporting systems after death audits. Although data reconciliation with the additional number of deaths had been proposed during the previous government’s regime, it is yet to be done, according to a top official.
DSSP officials said as per the Centre’s amended rules for payment of compensation, even those COVID patients who died at home after discharge from hospitals were eligible to claim.
“Many had COVID-like symptoms with acute respiratory distress syndrome but did not test positive. Several such patients have died after discharge from hospitals,” the officials added.
