Congress asks Govt to stop hiding Covid deaths, pay ex-gratia for all claims
Hyderabad, Jan.24 (Maxim News): The Congress party on Monday demanded that the Telangana Government pay ex-gratia of Rs. 50,000 to all the families who lost their kin due to Covid-19 as per the directions of the Supreme Court.
Hyderabad City Congress Committee (HCCC) Minorities Department Chairman Sameer Waliullah reiterated the allegation that the State Government was hiding the actual figure of deaths due to Covid-19 so as to avoid paying compensation to the families of the victims. Referring to the data filed by TS Govt in the Supreme Court, he said that the Covid compensation claims received by the State was almost seven times higher than the official count of death. “As against 3,993 deaths reported by the TS Govt, it received claims from 28,969 families. There is a huge gap of 24,976 victims. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao must seek an explanation from the Health Department for this huge contradiction,” he demanded in a media statement.
Further, Sameer Waliullah said that of 28,969 claims, the compensation has been paid to 12,148 families. This information was furnished by the State Government in the Supreme Court and therefore, this cannot be denied. In this scenario, the State Government must furnish the reasons for rejecting the claims of the remaining 16,821 families.
“Telangana has an annual budget of nearly Rs. 2 Lakh crore. The State Govt will need just Rs. 84.10 Crore to approve all the claims received so far. In fact, it should increase the ex-gratia amount to Rs. 1 lakh per family by allocating Rs. 500 crore in the budget,” he demanded.
Sameer also demanded that the State Government update its daily Media Bulletin with the correct figures of death which shows that toll as 4,072 (as on 23rd January). “The TS Govt informed the Supreme Court that it received 28,969 claims for compensation for Covid deaths. It already paid compensation to 12,148. Therefore, it should update the overall deaths by matching it at least with the figure of families to whom compensation has been paid,” he demanded.
The Congress leader said that the TRS Govt has been mis-managing the Covid-19 situation since the beginning. “CM KCR first denied the severity of Coronavirus and later imposed an unplanned lockdown. It miserably failed to implement the Test, Trace and Treatment strategy during all the three waves. Even now, it has adopted a casual approach in tackling the Omicron threat by trying to manage it through Fever Surveys. The experts have warned of an increase in severity in Covid-19 situation in the next two weeks. Therefore, the TRS Govt should take some concrete measures to prevent the spread of virus and avoid casualties,” he demanded. (Maxim News)
