Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has issued an order detailing the norms for providing ex gratia to the dependents of COVID-19 victims.
The government had earlier announced an ex gratia of Rs 50,000 each to the next of kin of the deceased, in line with the Central government's decision to provide compensation.
The Supreme Court had on October 4 approved the Central government decision to provide Rs 50,000 as compensation to the relatives of COVID-19 victims, and ordered to disburse the amount within 30 days of receiving the application.
According to the State government guidelines, the husband will be eligible for compensation if his wife had died of COVID-19, and vice versa. The amount will be equally divided among the children, who had lost both their parents.
The deceased person's parent will be eligible for an equal share of the compensation if the victim was unmarried, or his/her spouse is not alive. If the parents, too, are not alive in this category, the amount will be equally distributed among his/her siblings.
If the deceased persons have dependent parents besides spouse/children, they, too, will get a proportionate share of the compensation amount.
The ex gratia will be provided from the State disaster response fund, as ordered by the Supreme Court.
