The state government has sanctioned Rs 56.76 crore for paying compensation to people who had suffered various health problems owing to the aerial spraying of endosulfan on cashew plantations in Kasargode district.

The decision to release the compensation was taken in the cabinet meeting on Thursday.

This comes after the Supreme Court in January this year had described the effects of endosulfan as devastating and directed the Kerala government to release the entire compensation to over 5,000 endosulfan victims and their families in three months.

A sum of Rs 5.15 crore has been set aside, of the total Rs 56.76 crore, as compensation for 257 bedridden patients, as per a report in The New Indian Express.

Dependents of the victims who have died will also get the same amount of compensation. Rs 14.18 crore has been earmarked for this.

Cancer patients and people with physical disabilities will be given Rs 3 lakh each. There are 437 cancer patients among the victims and a total of Rs 4.37 crore has been earmarked for them.

For physically challenged persons, Rs 9.85 crore has been allotted. As many as 985 physically challenged victims will get Rs one lakh each. 


The first two instalments of the compensation have already been disbursed.

Known as the spray of death, the pesticide has affected several humans and animals in Kerala’s northern district of Kasargode.