Bhubaneswar: BMC panel to scan pleas for Covid aid

BHUBANESWAR: The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has formed a four-member panel to validate Covid assistance applications submitted by the kin of those died after contracting the virus.
The government has decided to provide Covid assistance of Rs 50,000 each to the next of kin of those who died of Covid-19. The amount will be paid from the State Disaster Response Fund.
For residents of Bhubaneswar, a committee comprising the director of Capital Hospital, city nodal officer for Covid, additional district urban public health officer and a specialist doctor will validate all applications. The BMC said the applications will require validation because in many death reports, the cause of death is mentioned as Covid.
“After the applications are centrally submitted to the Khurda collector online or offline, we will filter those which fall under the BMC’s jurisdiction. The remaining applications will be dealt with by the Khurda district administration. A separate committee has been also formed there to screen documents,” said a BMC officer.
The mandate of the committee is to authenticate whether a death occurred because of Covid in order to provide compensation to the next of kin.
“We have so far received 25 applications offline. Although the government has made a rule to file applications online, many are delivering them directly to the office,” said Khurda district emergency officer Sanghamitra Behera.
As per the Centre’s guidelines, any person testing positive for Covid-19 and dying in a month would be considered a Covid death regardless of whether the death occurred outside the hospital or during hospitalisation.
The information technology department has developed a software called CAPS (Covid-19 ex-gratia payment system) for online filing of applications, getting approval and direct benefit transfer to the bank accounts.
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