Odisha announces Rs 30 lakh ex-gratia for Covid deaths during panchayat poll duty

Bhubaneswar: The State Election Commission (SEC) in Odisha has announced Rs 30 lakh ex-gratia for Covid-19 death of any person engaged in panchayat election duty in the state.

In an order, the SEC said the ex-gratia will be applicable to all civil persons including government (both Centre and State), corporation (including Central and State PSU), local bodies, drivers, helpers of government and private vehicles and police personnel including Central Police Forces (CPF) engaged by the competent authority for election related duty in the state during elections to Panchayats, 2022 and thereafter including by-elections, reported IANS.

The commission said Covid-19 infected officials will get a cashless medical treatment facility.

Also read: Five-phase Odisha panchayat polls to start from Feb 16

The duty period is to be counted from the date and time of reporting for election duty before the election officer and ends with being relieved by the election officer from election duty.

Similarly, the SEC has revised the compensation amount for the officials in case of death or major injury while on Panchayat election duty.

The Commission order said a compensation Rs 30 lakh will be provided to families of polling personnel who die due to any violent act of extremist or anti-social elements in road mines, bomb blasts, armed attacks, etc.

In case of death due to other reasons, the compensation amount will be Rs 15 lakh.

Earlier, the compensation amount was Rs 20 lakh for category-A employees and Rs 10 lakh for category-B employees in case of death due to violent acts. The amount for other deaths was Rs 10 lakh and Rs 5 lakh for the category A and B employees, respectively.