MP govt must pay ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to kin of deceased Covid patients: Kamal Nath

Bhopal, June 30 After the Supreme Court pronounced an order to ensure compensation to the families of those who lost their lives due to Covid-19 infection, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress State President, Kamal Nath, has demanded the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state give Rs five lakh as compensation to grieving families of those people who succumbed to the infection.

Nath released a statement, saying, "The Supreme Court has ordered the Central government to ensure compensation to the families of the deceased Covid patients. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been given six weeks time to decide the compensation. The apex court's decision once again shows the failure of the Narendra Modi government. It should have been that the government as an executive should have fulfilled its responsibility and the judiciary would not have stepped in to pass its judgement."

Kamal Nath has demanded that the Central government should provide a compensation of at least Rs four lakh to the next of kin of the persons who died in a natural calamity, as there is already a provision of giving a compensation of Rs four lakh. Whatever formula the NDMA comes up with, this fact should be kept in mind.

The Madhya Pradesh government has already announced a compensation of Rs one lakh to the family of the person who died of Covid-19. The Central and state government together should ensure to give at least Rs five lakh to the family of every person who died of the infection in Madhya Pradesh.

Accusing the state government of hiding the figures of the Covid deaths, the former Chief Minister said in Madhya Pradesh it is being seen that the state government is deliberately fudging the data of Covid-19 deaths. This has been published within the country and international media outlets showing that the state government has accepted deaths of fewer people from Covid than the number of people who have actually died in the state.