Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Wednesday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to implement his previous order of disbursing an ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of those who died of COVID-19, saying mere Rs 50,000 compensation is insufficient.
Channi also said that the Punjab government is ready to contribute its 25 per cent share in the compensation.
"Wrote letter to PM @narendramodi ji & urged him to implement his previous order of disbursing ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the kin of those who died due to Covid19. I feel mere Rs 50,000 compensation is insufficient. My Govt. is ready to contribute our 25% share under this scheme," Channi said in a tweet.
"We demand that the central government implements its earlier order notified on the date of March 14, 2020, issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, where the government made a commitment to disburse ex-gratia payment of Rs 4 lakh per deceased. The central government later revised this notification and reduced the ex-gratia payment to Rs 50,000. We feel at such time of distress it is imperative that special consideration should be made to fulfil the earlier commitment of Rs 4 lakhs by the government, " said the letter from the Chief Minister.
The letter further added, "We understand that the SDRF norms require 75 per cent of Rs 4 lakh, which is Rs 3 lakh to be paid by the central government and the remaining 25 per cent, which is Rs 1 lakh, to be the share of the state. We commit to uphold the state share of Rs 4 lakh ex-gratia payment."
This comes after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday demanded the Government of India to provide correct figures of the COVID-related deaths in the country and pay a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to families of those who lost their lives due to the infection.
"The Congress party has two demands - Correct figures of COVID dead should be given, and Rs 4 lakh compensation should be given to the families who have lost their loved ones to COVID," Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Hindi.
Later, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also supported Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's demand from the Centre to pay a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to families of those who lost their lives due to COVID-19 and said that if a state government can provide generous compensation then so can the Central government.
The Central government in March last year, decided to treat coronavirus as a "notified disaster" for the purpose of providing assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 4 lakhs to families of those who die of coronavirus.
Earlier in September this year, The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued an order for ex-gratia of Rs 50,000 for next to kin of those who died of COVID-19.The Ministry, in its letter to the Chief Secretaries of all states, said that the amount would be disbursed from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).
( With inputs from ANI )
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