Perunthalaivar Karma Veerar Kamaraj Scheme for Financial Assistance Towards Funeral Expenses of the Differently Abled Persons

What is the Perunthalaivar Karma Veerar Kamaraj funeral expenses scheme?

The Perunthalaivar Karma Veerar Kamaraj Scheme for Financial Assistance Towards Funeral Expenses of the Differently Abled Persons is run by the Directorate of Social Welfare, Government of Puducherry. According to the Directorate's manual, the scheme has been implemented since 2004, and "a fixed payment is made to the close relative of differently abled persons for meeting out the expenses in connection with funeral, in the event of the death of the differently abled person concerned".

The scheme is named after K. Kamaraj, honoured in Tamil as Perunthalaivar and Karma Veerar. It is one of about twenty measures the Directorate runs for differently abled persons in the union territory, and it is the only one that operates after death.

The purpose is practical rather than symbolic. A family that has spent years caring for a differently abled member is often left with immediate funeral costs and no ready money, especially where the household income was built partly around the monthly disability assistance that stops on death. This grant is meant to cover that gap quickly.

On the amount, readers should note a discrepancy in the department's own material. The Directorate's current scheme page states funeral expenses of Rs 25,000. The Directorate's older departmental manual records the figure as Rs 15,000. The higher figure appears on the live scheme page and reflects a revision, but because the two official documents differ, confirm the sum in force with the Directorate before you plan around it.

Who is eligible to claim, and who is not?

You can claim if:

• The deceased had a disability of 40 per cent or above, certified by the competent medical authority.
• The deceased had resided in the union territory for not less than five years.
• You are the son, daughter, spouse or any other close relative under whose care and maintenance the deceased differently abled person was living at the time of death.
• You apply within 30 days from the date of death.
• The income condition is satisfied, the Directorate's scheme page lists an annual income below Rs 75,000, consistent with its other differently abled schemes.

You are not eligible, and cannot apply, if:

• The deceased's disability was below 40 per cent, or was never certified at all.
• More than 30 days have passed since the death. This is the hardest of the conditions, and there is no published condonation route.
• You were not caring for the deceased. A distant relative who was not maintaining the person is not the intended claimant, even if related by blood.
• The deceased did not meet the five-year residence condition in the union territory.
• Another relative has already been sanctioned the grant for the same death. Only one payment is made per death.

There is no age limit in the scheme, either for the deceased or for the claimant. A differently abled child and a differently abled elderly person are covered on the same terms.

How much is paid, and when?

The grant is a one-time fixed payment, not a reimbursement of actual bills. The Directorate's current scheme page puts it at Rs 25,000; the older departmental manual states Rs 15,000. Whichever figure is in force, the payment is made as a lump sum to the claimant's own bank account.

Because it is a fixed grant, you do not have to produce funeral bills, cremation receipts or quotations. What the Directorate verifies is the death, the disability, the residence and the relationship: not the expenditure.

Payment follows sanction, and sanction depends on the Directorate completing the verification. Filing a complete application within the 30-day window is the single biggest thing a family can do to make the payment quick.

How to apply for the Kamaraj funeral expenses assistance

Move fast; the clock starts on the date of death.

1. Register the death and obtain the death certificate from the municipality or commune panchayat. Nothing can be filed without it, and the 30-day period runs from the date of death, not from the date the certificate is issued.
2. Locate the deceased's disability certificate. If the family cannot find it, ask the Directorate to check its own records, particularly if the deceased was drawing the monthly financial assistance for differently abled persons.
3. Collect proof of relationship and of care — the family ration card, a legal heir certificate where needed, and the residence certificate of the deceased.
4. Get the application form. Download it from the "Differently Abled Persons

• Download Forms" section of socwelfare.py.gov.in, or collect it at the Directorate. The e-District portal at edistrict.py.gov.in also carries Social Welfare applications online.

5. Fill the form in the claimant's name, attach the enclosures and a copy of the claimant's bank passbook and Aadhaar, and submit: online through e-District, or in person at the Directorate of Social Welfare or the departmental office of your region.
6. Take a dated acknowledgement or note the e-District reference number. Quote it on every follow-up.

How do you check the status of a claim?

• Online claims are tracked by logging back into edistrict.py.gov.in with the same credentials and checking the application against its reference number.
• Paper claims are tracked at the Directorate of Social Welfare, quoting the inward number and date.
• The Directorate can be reached on +91-413-2205871 or at socwel[at]py[dot]gov[dot]in.
• The sanctioned amount appears as a credit in the claimant's bank account. Watch the passbook rather than waiting for a letter.

Why do claims get rejected, and how do you avoid it?

• Filed after 30 days. The commonest failure and effectively fatal. Register the death and file immediately; do not wait for the mourning period to end.
• No disability certificate for the deceased. Search the family papers and ask the Directorate to check its records. Without certified disability of 40 per cent or more the claim cannot stand.
• Relationship not established. Attach the ration card or a legal heir certificate. A bare assertion of relationship is not enough.
• Care and maintenance not evident. Where the deceased lived with someone other than the claimant, the Directorate will look at who was actually maintaining the person. Say so plainly in the application and support it.
• Residence of the deceased not proved for five years. Add nativity certificate, voter roll entry and utility bills.
• Claimant's bank details wrong. Give an active account in the claimant's own name with a legible passbook copy.
• Two relatives claiming. Settle it within the family before filing; competing claims delay both.

What else should the family know?

Two further points matter after a death in the family.

First, if the deceased was drawing the monthly financial assistance for differently abled persons, inform the Directorate so that the pension is closed properly. Continuing credits after death have to be refunded and can complicate this claim.

Second, the Department of Women and Child Development runs a separate Grant of Financial Assistance for the Funeral Expenses of an Old Age or Destitute Pensioner. Where the deceased was an old age pensioner rather than a differently abled beneficiary, that is the correct scheme to approach, and it is applied for at the Women and Child Development offices rather than at Social Welfare.

Where do you complain?

• Contact the Directorate of Social Welfare, Government of Puducherry, on +91-413-2205871 or socwel[at]py[dot]gov[dot]in, quoting the application number.
• For an e-District application, lodge the grievance through the portal so that it attaches to the same file.
• Escalate an unresolved case on CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in against the Government of Puducherry, Directorate of Social Welfare.

The grant is free of any charge and no agent is required. Report any demand for money to the Directorate.