In a welcome move, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Monday announced ₹50 lakh compensation which will be provided to the family members and relatives of staffers who die due to COVID-19 while discharging their duty.
The announcement was made by BMC Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal. BMC, one of the richest municipal corporations in India, leads the way in providing financial assistance to the families of civic body employees who die after getting infected.
The scheme announced by the BMC will remain applicable from March 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020. Apart from the permanent employees, the civic body will extend the benefit of this scheme for contractual and temporary employees too.
The scheme will be applicable for employees from various categories working in the BMC including those who have been outsourced. However, those frontline workers who are already covered for COVID-19 insurance under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana will be an exception for BMC’s scheme.
However, there is a criterion chalked out by the civic body to give compensation to the families and kins of the employees who get succumbed to COVID-19. According to BMC, it is mandatory for the employee to report on duty for a period of 14 days before being admitted to the hospital or before his/her death.
In order to claim the compensation, there’s a list of documents which would be required and the money will be given only after following the due procedures. Along with the identity proof of the deceased employee, a lab report showing COVID-19 result as positive would also be required.
So far, 55 of the BMC staffers have died due to COVID-19 while over 1,500 employees have been tested positive for the coronavirus. Earlier, the BMC had announced ₹10 lakh compensation for its employees who die while discharging their duties.
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