Bhubaneswar: The next of kin of the persons who died due to Covid-19 will apply for ex-gratia offered by the Odisha government from November 3, 2021. In an order, the Special Relief Commissioner’s office asked the District Administrations and Municipal Commissioners to provide Rs 50,000 ex-gratia to the next of kin of the persons who died of Covid-19 within a period of 30 days from the date of submission of the application.

The state government has already authorized the District Collector and Chairman of District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to disburse the ex-gratia assistance of Rs 50,000 out of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).

People will apply for the ex-gratia from November 3, 2021 either in offline (physically or through post) or online (https://caps.odisha.gov.in) for their claim in a prescribed application format.

The SRC office order added the application format will be available in Odia and English.

The applicants will have to apply to the District Collector with Covid-19 death certificate and other requisite documents mentioned in the application format.

One application shall be used by applicant for one death case, it read.

Also read: Pay 50,000 Ex-Gratia For Covid-19 Deaths Even If Death Certificates Don’t Mention Covid: Supreme Court

The IT department has developed an app CAPS (Covid-19 ex-gratia Assistance Payment System) in order to make quick payment of such ex-gratia assistance to the next of kin of the deceased.

“Collector will approve, sanction and disburse the ex-gratia in the software CAPS and the payment of such assistance will be made directly to the next of kin from Collector through DBT. Collector will follow the procedure in CAPS like Disaster Assistance Monitoring and payment system as in case of other approved disaster under SDRF,” the order stated.