Suryakant Jena

The Odisha Government on Wednesday initiated the process for payment of compensation to the next of kin of people who died of Covid-19. Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena has authorised the Collectors to disburse Rs 50,000 from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to the eligible beneficiaries.

As per the notification issued by SRC, to make quick payment of such assistance, an online application platform — CAPS (Covid-19 Assistance Payment System) — has been developed by the IT Department.

The Collectors will approve, sanction, and disburse the ex-gratia after recieving the application through this software and the compensation will be directly released to the kin of the deceased through direct benefit transfer mode.

The government has announced that the kin of the persons who died of Covid-19, could apply either in offline (physically or through post) or online (https://caps.odisha.gov.in) through a prescribed application format with Covid-19 death certificate, Aadhar card and other requisite documents.

The SRC has asked the Collectors to complete the payment within 30 days after the necessary audit of the application. As per the State Covid dashboard, as many as 8,343 persons have reportedly died due to the viral disease in the pandemic so far (as on November 3, 2021).

“Application for Covid-19 exgratia could be submitted before two committees with Covid death certificate and all other necessary documents. Those who have any complaint about the cause of their kin’s death, they could approach the grievance committee of the district administration or health department,” said State Public Health Director Bijay Mohapatra.

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