Districts in Minas Gerais join a group of communities that already have access to the operation aimed at paying for hard-to-prove damage cases.
Residents of the districts of Reves do Belem (Bom Jesus do Galho), Cachoeira Escura (Belo Oriente), Ipaba do Paraiso (Santana do Paraiso), Baguari (Governador Valadares) and Pedra Corrida (Periquito), all in Minas Gerais, will receive access to the Simplified Indemnity System starting December 14, implemented after the decision of the 12th Federal Court of Justice and after a petition presented by the Commission of Affected Parties of these districts.
Through the Simplified Indemnity System, it is possible to indemnify categories with hard-to-prove damage, such as washerwomen, artisans, sand harvesters, trash scavengers, mineral extractors, subsistence, and unregistered fishermen, among others. According to the damage category, the settlements are a one-off and definitive payment, as ruled by the Court, and they vary from R$23 thousand to R$567 thousand. Click here to see the values by category and city or town. On December 7, the total paid amounted to R$ 178.9 million to about 2 thousand people. The first of these indemnity payments was transferred on September 10.
Currently, seven municipalities, in addition to the five new districts, have access to the new payment flow: Baixo Guandu, Sao Mateus, Aracruz, Conceiçao da Barra and Linhares, in Espirito Santo, and Naque and Itueta, in Minas Gerais.
Through the Simplified Indemnity System, payments for hard-to-prove damage cases have increased by around 300% in just over a month, from 500 in late October to around 2 thousand in early December. The new, more agile payment flow was implemented by the Renova Foundation in August, following a decision by Court for actions filed by Commissions for Affected Parties for damage caused by the Fundao dam collapse.
Access
The Simplified Indemnity System can be accessed through the online platform called Attorney’s Portal, on the Renova Foundation website (www.reparacaobaciariodoce.com). Participation is voluntary. To join, people must be represented by an attorney or public defender, according to a judicial decision, as only these professionals can access and complete the data in the system. Besides, it must be confirmed that the party was at least 16 years of age at the time of the dam collapse and that they registered or requested registration in the Renova Foundation database by April 30, 2020.
The deadline for joining the Simplified Indemnity System was defined by Court. For the municipality of Sao Mateus, the deadline is December 31, 2020. For other municipalities, the date is January 31, 2021. The five new districts are expected to join by April 30, 2021.
The Renova Foundation informs that, until September 2020, a total of R$ 2.65 billion were paid in indemnities and financial aid to approximately 321 thousand people.