Puducherry, Oct 8 (IANS): Puducherry Chief Minister N. Rangasamy on Friday distributed an ex-gratia amount of Rs 50,000 each to the families of Covid-19 victims here.

The Puducherry government in a statement said the government has issued an order in compliance with the guidelines formulated by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and on the directive from the Supreme Court of India. On the basis of these, an application form has been formulated for quick disbursement of the ex-gratia amount of Rs 50,000 to the family of each victim.

According to the statement from the Puducherry government, 1845 families will benefit from the government initiative. This includes 1,445 people from Puducherry, 248 from Karaikal, 45 from Mahe, and 107 from Yanam.

The Puducherry district collector Purva Garg in the statement said the District Disaster Management Authorities of the respective districts would distribute the relief to the families. The ex-gratia payment will be made through Aadhar linked Direct Benefit Transfer. The transfer would be executed on submission of an application by the concerned family along with the details of the death, the statement said.

A Covid-19 Death Ascertaining Committee cum Grievance Redressal Committee with the Puducherry district collector as Chairman with Dr. J. Ramesh, Chief of Government Pharmacy, Dr. J. Kavitha, Associate Professor, and Dr. M. Vivekanandan, Professor, JIPMER as their members.

The claims, according to the statement, will be settled within 30 days of submission of application.

The district collector in the statement said the eligible claimants can get the application forms from the concerned taluk offices and the completed application forms could be submitted to the taluk offices in their jurisdiction.