Kerala to roll out additional financial relief of Rs 5,000 per month for BPL families of COVID-19 deceased

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said this additional financial assistance will also be provided to BPL families of those who might succumb to coronavirus in the coming days.

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New Delhi: The Kerala government on Wednesday (October 13) said that Below Poverty Line (BPL) dependent families whose kin died due to COVID-19 will receive Rs 5,000 per month for three years as additional assistance. 

The call was taken at a Cabinet meeting where it was decided the additional relief would be made available only to BPL dependents of the deceased.

Further, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said this financial assistance will also be provided to BPL families of those who might succumb to coronavirus in the coming days, PTI reported. 

“This additional relief would not make such families ineligible to receive other relief packages under social welfare, welfare funds or pensions. Besides that, families settled here of those who died outside the state or country would also be eligible for the benefit and while including them in BPL category, income of the deceased would not be taken into account,” the state government said in a release. 

“However, if there is a government employee or income tax payer in such families, then they would be ineligible for the new relief package and village officers have been directed to ensure such persons are not there when deciding the applications seeking the additional assistance,” the CM added. 

The Kerala CM asked the dependents to submit the applications in a simple one-page form, for which the District Collectors and Revenue authorities concerned have been assigned to carry out the necessary steps. 

The CM stated that this additional financial relief would be funded from Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund. “The relief package of Rs 5,000 per month will be paid as a direct benefit transfer from the first month of payment till the next three years and the funds for the same would be taken from the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund till the required amount is allocated in the budget.”

Meanwhile, Kerala reported 11,079 new coronavirus cases and 123 fatalities, which pushed the total caseload to 48,20,698 and the death toll to 26,571. Kerala has been witnessing a decline in the daily fresh cases after crossing the 30,000-mark in August.

(With agency inputs)