Flip-flop on virus cash ... The ministry said the revised order contains a 'partially modified' list of items and norms of assistance for virus containment

TT Bureau , TT, 15.03.20, New Delhi: The Union home ministry on Saturday proposed and swiftly pulled back an ex gratia payment of Rs 4 lakh to the family of each person who dies from the novel coronavirus. The ministry did not offer an immediate explanation for the revised decision.

The home ministry’s disaster management division initially said the Centre, keeping in view the declaration of the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, has decided to treat it as a “notified disaster” for the purpose of providing assistance under the state disaster relief fund.

An annexure to the order specifying the items and norms of assistance, eligible from the SDRF, for containment of the coronavirus in India indicated an ex gratia payment of Rs 4 lakh to the families of the deceased.

The norms of this assistance explained that the ex-gratia would be “Rs 4 lakh per deceased person, including those involved in relief operations or associated in response activities, subject to certification regarding cause of death from appropriate authority”.

The annexure to the first order, issued around 3.15pm, said the cost of hospitalisation for managing the coronavirus illness would be at rates fixed by the state government.

However, the ministry issued a revised order around 4.45pm in which the items specifying the ex gratia payment and hospitalisation cover costs are missing.

The ministry said the revised order contains a “partially modified” list of items and norms of assistance for coronavirus containment.

The revised annexure retained two other items in the first order — one specifying provisions for temporary accommodation, food, clothing and medical care for people affected and sheltered in quarantine camps, the cost of sample collection, and the other for costs of additional testing laboratories and personal protection equipment.