Maharashtra announces Rs 50,000 ex-gratia amount for kins of COVID victims

One of the states to be worst hit by COVID-19, the Maharashtra Government on Friday (November 26, 2021) announced the ex-gratia payment for immediate relatives of people who lost their lives in the pandemic.

New Delhi: The Maharashtra Government on Friday (November 26, 2021) announced Rs 50,000 ex-gratia payment for the kins or immediate relatives of people who lost their lives due to COVID-19, ANI reported.

Maharashtra, which has the highest COVID-19 death toll in India, was one of the worst-hit Indian states both during the first and the second deadly wave of coronavirus. The western state recorded 1,40,857 of total COVID deaths so far, as per My Government data.

However, activists have been protesting against the amount citing it to be insufficient for the loss. In a letter written in late October to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Corona Ekal Mahila Punarvasan Samiti (CEMPS), an NGO working for COVID-19 affected families in the state, sought at least Rs 2 lakh compensation for each family.

Maharashtra Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat also wrote Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seeking Rs 4 lakhs for the families who lost their members to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra, which also remains the winner in COVID vaccination, crossed the 110 million COVID doses mark by the evening on Friday. Maharashtra had touched the 100 million mark on November 9. Till now Maharashtra has administered 11,00,26,925 covid vaccine doses.

On the COVID front, Maharashtra reported 852 new coronavirus cases and 34 deaths in the last 24 hours while the number of active cases dropped below 9,000, the health department said on Friday evening.