Church officials in the southern Indian state of Kerala are upset with the provincial government for refusing to pay financial compensation to Catholic nuns who died of Covid-19.
Authorities declined to pay the Covid-19 death compensation of Rs 50,000 (US$625) each to four nuns belonging to the indigenous order of Sisters of the Destitute (SD).
“I moved the claims for compensation,” Sister Kiran Mandoth, SD, told on July 22. “The officials at the village and district made me run from pillar to post to gather nearly a dozen documents including death certifi-cates. I was made to wait for over a year only to be told that nuns were not eligible for compensation.”
Sister Mandoth said the officials cited no reason for the denial of compensation. “It is not about the money. But are nuns not citizens of India,” she asked.
Father Jacob Palakkappilly, the spokesman of the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC), said the provincial government has no right to block humanitarian services to anyone including Catholic nuns, priests or seers, regardless of their religion.
“This is injustice and discrimination against the nuns who are citizens of India,” he said.
The provincial governments were ordered to pay exgratia compensation to families of persons who died of Covid-19 by the Supreme Court of India in October 2021.