Insurance firms cut red tape, honour claims

By Arunkumar Bhatt

BHUJ, JAN. 31. While relief and rehabilitation have been considerably bogged down in Kutch for want of proactive administration and better coordination between the Government and voluntary agencies, the public sector insurance companies have decided to cut the red tape to honour claims of those who insured their lives and property.

All chief executives of these companies, led by Mr. K.N. Bhandari, chairperson of General Insurance (Public Sector) Association (GIPSA), met in Ahmedabad recently and decided to waive several formalities and empower local executives to honour claims after minimum paperwork.

Now, the insured persons can approach any agent or development officer for filing their claim, not necessarily those of the company that insured his/her life and property. Unlike in normal circumstances, the insurance companies would not insist on police panchnama and meteorological report in support of claims.

A policy copy and document establishing insurable interest would do. An underwriter here said even those documents would not be insisted upon. ``We will find out all the details from our records if the insurer provides us approximate dates of the payment of premium,'' he said.

For death claims, no postmortem report or police FIR would be necessary. A successor's affidavit would be enough to get the death or injury claim if it is below Rs. 50,000 and in case of higher claims, a death certificate from local authorities, such as the village sarpanch or a medical officer, would be enough.

These are a major relaxations. If the insurance companies stuck to rules the successors, now mostly on the streets, would not get any money. Only a very nominal amount would be deducted for meeting the audit needs, the underwriter said.

The insurance companies have decided to organise claim camps in the Kutch region for quick disposal of death and injury claims. The officers would be required to appoint surveyors immediately in property damage claims and the surveyors would be required to file preliminary reports in just five days.

If the final report were to be delayed for any reason, the claimant would receive interim payment. The final report is to be submitted within 30 days.

In India, roughly 15 per cent of the housing stock is insured as against 100 per cent in some advanced countries. It has been the experience of insurance companies that out of fear of more quakes or cyclones, many households approach them for policies soon after a calamity strikes. ``We handle such proposals with ease to avoid risk. But this time, we will insure such properties, and even life, provided people make their requests in writing and pay premium in cash or by demand draft,'' he said.

The only requirement is that such property would have to be surveyed by in-house or outside surveyors to ensure that nobody gets a house already damaged by the quake insured.

The Gujarat Institute of Housing and Estate Developers has offered its services free for such mid-term insurance against aftershocks or fresh quakes. Many insurance branches in the quake-struck towns have set up makeshift offices on pavements and streets. They have started receiving requests for insurance cover and also claims.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : National
Previous : NRSA studying data from quake-hit areas
Next     : Three perceivable indicators of quakes