One-time financial aid of Rs 50,000 given to 3,336 families of Covid victims

Kolkata: In a major success, the Mamata Banerjee government has ensured transfer of one-time financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to next of kin of 3,336 people, who died due to Covid, out of the 5,342 applications received till date.

The financial assistance to the maximum number of the applicants has been disbursed within 15 days of receiving their applications despite the directives giving 30 days time for the same.

The one-time financial assistance would be given to people who died due to Covid, since the first case of the pandemic was reported in the country and will continue till de-notification of Covid as a disaster.

Till now, the state government has prepared a data of around 19,507 people (as per the reports received till December 2) and each of their next of kin would be receiving a one-time financial assistance.

It was at the end of November when the state government had started receiving the applications to provide financial aid. As many as 5,342 applications have been submitted from across the state. Out of the same, at least 3,062 applications have been approved and the one-time financial assistance has been directly transferred to their bank accounts. The remaining are under process and the assistance for them would also be disbursed soon following necessary scrutiny. Applications have been received from all districts, including 659 from Kolkata. "We want genuine beneficiaries to apply for the same at the earliest," said a senior state government officer.

In compliance with the Supreme Court's judgment in this connection, the state has issued a guideline. The disbursement of the financial assistance is being undertaken following the set guideline issued by the Disaster Management and Civil Defence department.

The process of applying for the same is quite simple. There are options to submit applications both in online and offline mode. One has to log in to www.wbdmd.gov.in to apply online. If one prefers offline, a resident of the Panchayat area has to visit the office of the local BDO to apply for the same. Similarly, applications can be submitted with all the required documents at the local SDO office in municipal areas and borough offices in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area.

An applicant has to provide a death certificate of the deceased person "duly certified as Covid death by the concerned officer of the Health department", Aadhaar card of the deceased person, Aadhaar card of next of kin of the dead, legal heir certificate and bank account details.

The financial assistance is being provided from the fund under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).