Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Sunday wrote to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee demanding her government to “revise” the Covid-19 death toll in the state with “immediate effect”.

In the letter, Chowdhury alleged that the West Bengal government “has gone to great lengths to hide the actual death numbers caused due to Covid-19”.

“We also demand revising the Covid-19 death register with immediate effect. Negligence and inefficiency of the government during the first and second wave of the pandemic has costed several lives. In addition to that, the government has gone to great lengths to hide the actual death numbers caused due to Covid-19. We demand a detailed survey to create an authentic Covid-19 death register so that all those excluded can rightfully access compensation,” Chowdhury, who is also the president of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee stated.

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The Congress leader said that despite Covid-19 being notified as a disaster under the NDMA of the central government, an ex-gratia payment of Rs 4 lakhs has not been met by the Mamata Banerjee-led government to the Covid-19 victims.

He said, “Further, after Covid-19 was notified as a disaster under the NDMA by the central government, your government put down several norms and restrictions upon the citizens to ensure containment of the spread of the virus. Lockdown was instilled, people were heavily fined for not wearing masks and for not abiding by the Covid-19 protocols. But the norms of assistance, also mentioned under the norms of NDMA, as ex-gratia payment of 4 lakh compensation, have not been met. As a welfare state, it is our responsibility to look after our citizens during times of need.”

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary stated that the Centre submitted a detailed affidavit in the Supreme Court on September 11 mentioning that it will pay only Rs 50,000 as ex gratia to the families of those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic through the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). “Under the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) the compensation amount is shared by the Centre and State in 75 per cent – 25 per cent respectively,” he added.

“At such difficult times, the meagre amount of Rs 50,000 as ex gratia compensation is insufficient. The central government has argued that giving Rs 4 lakhs as compensation would leave the government with insufficient capital to deal with Covid-19 itself. We cannot understand how the central government continues to collect taxes through rising petrol prices and provide tax relaxation to corporates, but can deny any such relief to the citizens,” he further said in the letter.

Adhir Chowdhury said that the Centre made a commitment of disbursement of ex-gratia payment of Rs 4 lakhs to the kin of the victims in its notification on March 14, 2020. However, the central government revised the order and reduced the ex-gratia payment to Rs 50,000, he further said, adding that it is imperative that special consideration should be made to fulfill the earlier commitment of Rs 4 lakhs as ex-gratia by the government.

“We demand that the Central Government implements its earlier order notified on date March 14, 2020 issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, where the central government made a commitment of disbursement of ex-gratia payment of Rs 4 lakhs per deceased. Later the central government revised this notification and reduced the ex-gratia payment to Rs 50,000… The SDRF norms require 75 per cent of Rs 4 lakhs, which is Rs 3 lakhs to be paid by the central government and remaining 25 per cent, which is Rs 1 lakh, to be the share of the state government,” Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury further stated.

“We demand that you commit upholding the state government’s share of Rs 4 lakhs as ex-gratia payment so that it pushes the central government to fulfillment its commitment to the affected citizens,” he said in the letter to Mamata Banerjee.