The State’s COVID-19 toll has swelled up by 28,444 fatalities that have been added to the official count till March 30. This is after the bereaved families approached the Directorate of Social Security and Pensions under the Revenue Department seeking compensation for the death of their loved ones.
However, the State Health Department’s official tally stood at 40,054 till Thursday. Data reconciliation with these added numbers will be done later, say officials.
Apex court order
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 due to the pandemic. While the Centre is giving ₹50,000 per death regardless of the economic background of the victim’s family, Karnataka Government has announced ₹1 lakh per family for those below the poverty line.
Following the Centre’s guidelines, the State issued a Government Order on January 10, 2022, authorising the Directorate of Social Security and Pensions to receive claims and dispense compensation of ₹50,000 to each of the families of COVID victims. The GO said that these numbers will be eventually added to the COVID-19 War Room line list.
Subsequently, district-wise committees were set up headed by Additional Deputy Commissioners. These committees that include the district surgeon, district health officer and a doctor from the Health Department, have so far entered 24,560 claim applications by families on the COVID compensation portal. Of these, COVID death compensation of ₹50,000 each has been paid to 21,348 families till March 30 after final approval.
Highest from BBMP area
Satish Kumar D.M., Director of Social Security and Pensions told The Hindu that the highest number of claims are from BBMP limits with 5,832 COVID deaths updated here. Of these, compensation has been paid to families of 4,607 COVID victims, he said.
While Belagavi follows with 2,605 additional deaths, 1,406 deaths have been updated from Ballari and Vijayanagara. The least additions are from Yadgir (202), Kodagu (259), Haveri (292) and Gadag (293).
For the official 40,054 deaths recorded by the Health Department, compensation has been paid to 28,250 families, Mr Kumar said. “While 3,500 families are either not traceable, do not have legal heirs to claim or are from outside the State, we have not received any claims or applications for the remaining. They can apply even now within 60 days if the death has occured before March 20,” the official added.
Data reconciliation
State Health Commissioner Randeep D. said 40,0534 COVID deaths are already on record and published in the bulletin. “We will cross verify the deaths recorded by the Revenue Department to rule out any duplication. After that is done, we would be able to do a one-time data reconciliation to bring on record these deaths in the State COVID bulletin,” he said.
“This can be done only after the Revenue Department confirms completion of COVID death claims verification process,” he said.
