Maharashtra’s Covid-19 grievance redressal committee has limited takers

Bhosale’s dream was to start this neonatal care unit in Latur

The state health department has issued a GR and formed a grievance redressal committee to address grievances of people whose family members died due to Covid-19, so that they can claim a compensation of Rs 50,000 as per the submission made by the Central government to the apex court. However, relatives of frontline doctors are not keen to claim Rs 50,000, stating that the government should honour its promise of paying Rs 50 lakh to next of kin of frontline warriors.

Taterao Bhosale, 28, brother of Latur-based paediatrician Dr Dnyaneshwar Bhosale, who lost his life battling Covid-19, said, "My brother was to start a paediatric neonatal care unit in our village. But before that could happen, he died due to Covid-19. He had taken a loan of Rs 20 lakh from two banks for vehicles and for construction of the hospital. Neither do we have the Rs 50 lakh as promised by the government, nor we have the money to repay the bank loan."

Dr Dnyaneshwar Bhosale

Dipak Thakur, father of dentist Dr Akshay Thakur, said, "I have already filed a writ petition in the Bombay High Court. The government should honour its promise of paying Rs 50 lakh instead." Advocate Nitesh Nevshe, who filed a writ petition on behalf of Thakur, said, "We have all the documents and supporting evidence to prove that the government had announced a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to next of kin of frontline warriors. They [government authorities] remained silent when my client approached them seeking compensation. If the government does not have the money to pay at one go, they can give the same in regular instalments. We are awaiting the matter to be heard by the court soon."

Advocate Rajeshwar Panchal said, "The government has been displaying figures of Covid-19 deaths and recoveries on a daily basis. This means that the government has the record of the number of patients who died. As per the Indian Medical Association, over 1,450 frontline warriors died during both the waves. And yet, kin of these frontline workers never got the promised compensation."

These facts show that the approach of the government is not in consonance with the welfare state policies, Panchal added. Meanwhile, senior criminal lawyer Dinesh Tiwari said, "The government resolution dated October 13 is drafted without keeping in mind the requirement and the sufferings of the masses. The procedure provided in the resolution is completely unthinkable and unbearable. If the common man is required to undertake so much procedure, then possibly nobody would ever benefit due to the policy as provided under the act. It appears that such stringent conditions are imposed so that the actual benefit is not availed by all the victims of the virus."

He continued, "It is required to be further noted that the constitution of the committee is itself so onerous that most of the time all such senior officers will not be able to meet which would lead to delay in considering the applications. Also, the committee is supposed to be operating at the district headquarters, which would be not easily accessible to many families of the victims. Ideally the government should have provided some simple mechanism so that the benefit could have been availed by the victim's family."

Rs 50L
Amount promised by the govt to kin of deceased frontliners