Ex-Gratia Payment for Life-Threatening Injury Requiring Hospital Stay for Treatment, Uttarakhand

What is the ex-gratia payment for disaster injury in Uttarakhand?

Ex-Gratia Payment for Life-Threatening Injury Requiring Hospital Stay is a relief measure paid from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) by the Department of Disaster Management and Rehabilitation, Government of Uttarakhand, through the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) and the district administration. It gives a fixed relief amount to a person who is grievously or life-threateningly injured in a notified natural disaster and needs hospitalisation.

Uttarakhand is one of India's most disaster-prone states, hit regularly by cloudbursts, flash floods, landslides and avalanches. The SDRF, set up under Section 48(1)(a) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, is the primary fund for immediate relief; for special-category states including Uttarakhand, the central government contributes 90% of the SDRF allocation. This ex-gratia item is one of the standing, rule-based reliefs the fund pays.

How much is paid?

According to the SDRF norms in force, the relief for a grievously injured person depends on how long the hospital stay lasts:

• Rs 16,000 where a serious injury requires hospitalisation for more than a week.
• Rs 5,400 where hospitalisation is up to one week.

These are the standing SDRF amounts and apply across states that follow the central norms. They are separate from any discretionary ex-gratia the Chief Minister or the Prime Minister may announce after a major incident, those extra amounts are additional, one-off announcements, not this rule-based relief.

Who is eligible for the ex-gratia payment?

You can claim if:

• You were grievously or life-threateningly injured in a notified natural disaster; such as a flood, cloudburst, landslide, avalanche, earthquake, hailstorm, cyclone, fire, frost or cold wave.
• The injury required hospital treatment, and you can show how long the hospitalisation lasted.
• The injury is linked to the disaster event and certified by hospital or district records.

You cannot claim / are not eligible if:

• The injury was from an ordinary accident not connected to a notified disaster, those cases fall under other compensation rules, not SDRF.
• The injury is minor and did not require hospitalisation.
• Your treatment was fully covered free under Ayushman Bharat, in which case the standard SDRF norms generally make you not eligible for this specific relief item because the cost was already met.
• You cannot produce hospital records showing the length of the stay. The duration is what fixes the Rs 16,000 or Rs 5,400 rate, so a claim without it cannot be processed.
• The event has not been notified as a disaster by the state or district administration. SDRF is rule-bound, so an injury during weather that was never declared a disaster is not eligible under this item.

How does this fit with other SDRF reliefs?

This injury payment is one item in a wider menu of standing SDRF reliefs that the district administration disburses after a notified disaster. Under the same central norms that Uttarakhand follows, the fund also pays Rs 4 lakh to the family of a person who dies in a disaster, along with separate items for damaged houses, lost livestock and destroyed crops. Reading the injury relief in that context helps a family understand that the Rs 16,000 or Rs 5,400 is a targeted amount for the hospitalised survivor, not the total relief a disaster-hit household may be entitled to. A family that has lost a home or a breadwinner should ask the Tehsil to record every applicable item, because each is claimed and paid separately.

What documents are required?

• Medical certificate / hospital records proving the injury and the duration of hospitalisation. This decides whether the Rs 16,000 or Rs 5,400 rate applies. Keep the discharge summary, which states admission and discharge dates.
• Proof that the injury was caused by the disaster: district administration, police or revenue certification linking it to the event.
• Aadhaar card, for identity and to seed the bank account.
• Bank passbook, the relief is credited directly.
• Uttarakhand residence proof — a domicile or ration card, though the key fact is usually that the injury occurred in the notified disaster.

How to check the status of an ex-gratia claim

There is no public online tracker dedicated to this SDRF item, because it is processed manually through the revenue and disaster-management chain. The reliable way to check progress is to follow up at the Tehsil or the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) where the claim was filed, quoting the disaster event, the date of the claim and the injured person's name. After a major disaster the district administration usually publishes lists of sanctioned relief, so ask whether the injured person's name appears on the approved list for that event. Keeping a photocopy of the submitted claim and the hospital discharge summary makes each follow-up faster.

How to apply for the ex-gratia payment

1. Report the injury to your local Tehsil office or the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) as soon as possible after the disaster.
2. Submit the claim with the medical certificate showing the hospitalisation duration, proof that the injury was disaster-related, your Aadhaar and bank passbook.
3. Verification by the district administration, the revenue/disaster management staff verify the injury and the disaster link, and assess whether the more-than-a-week or up-to-a-week rate applies.
4. Relief is disbursed to the injured person's bank account from the SDRF once the claim is approved.

Because SDRF is meant for immediate relief, claim promptly rather than waiting; the district administration will guide the exact process for the specific disaster event. There is no application fee, and no official or agent may charge to file or "speed up" an SDRF claim. Where a person is injured seriously enough that they cannot report themselves, a family member can file on their behalf, carrying the hospital records and the injured person's Aadhaar and bank details, since the relief is credited to the injured person's own account.

Why claims get delayed or rejected

• No medical record of hospitalisation, without proof of the stay and its duration, the correct rate cannot be fixed.
• Injury not linked to a notified disaster, the event must be a recognised natural disaster and the injury tied to it.
• Treatment already covered free under Ayushman Bharat: generally excluded under standard SDRF norms.
• Incomplete bank/Aadhaar details, stops the direct transfer.

Help and where to raise a problem

• Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA); usdma.uk.gov.in.
• District Disaster Management Authority / District Magistrate office. The operational authority that processes SDRF relief.
• Tehsil / revenue office: first point to report a disaster injury and file the claim.

If a genuine claim is delayed or refused without a clear reason, escalate in order: first the Tehsildar, then the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, and then the District Magistrate, who chairs the DDMA and holds final authority over SDRF disbursement in the district. Uttarakhand also operates a State Emergency Operations Centre reachable on the disaster helpline 1070 (state) and 1077 (district), which is the fastest line during and immediately after a disaster.

Note: the Rs 16,000 and Rs 5,400 figures are the standing SDRF norm amounts that Uttarakhand follows; for a specific disaster the district administration issues the operative instructions, so confirm the current process and any event-specific top-up with the DDMA.