The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Reversal of roles for Life Insurance Corporation

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 19, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Reversal of roles for Life Insurance Corporation

By Ramya Kannan

CHENNAI, JAN. 18. In abnormal times, systems work abnormally. For instance, the Life Insurance Corporation's premature claims section. Post-tsunami, the LIC has shortened its claims procedure so much that settling a claim is just a day's work.

In a complete role reversal, LIC agents are now on the field, not hunting for customers, but for family members of clients who are believed to have died in the tsunami, in order to persuade them to file for claims.

A total of 209 claims have been settled in Tamil Nadu and over Rs. 1.91crores have been disbursed in final settlements. In Kerala, which is included in the Southern region, a total of 16 claims have been settled at a cost of Rs.14.52 lakhs.

Scale of tragedy

This, however, does not reflect the scale of the tragedy, LIC officials pointed out. While the number of policies actually taken by the fishermen in the coastal areas is limited, there is a problem with family members filing for claims. "Some of them have still not been united with their families. They live in the hope of meeting them someday and hence do not want to file claims," a top LIC official at the Zonal Office, Southern Region, explained.

Others, who know for certain that their relatives are dead , are wary of filing claims because they believe it will affect their chances of getting Government aid, he added. That makes the task of the agents more difficult. Armed with a list of policyholders and the official list of the dead in the affected areas, agents are scouring the countryside to find claimants and explain the simplified process .

Requirement waived

The requirement of the regular death certificate, to be signed by a revenue official, has been done away with. Instead, over 7000 senior LIC agents with a good performance rating have been authorised to sign the certificates in case it is difficult to get government attestation. There will be no investigation to establish the genuineness of the claim .

The amounts cleared for claims vary depending on the type of policy and the duration of premium paid.

For instance, if a person has been insured for the sum of Rs. one lakh, then on a premature claim, he/she will receive the basic sum (Rs. one lakh), double the amount (Rs. two lakhs) for accident (since the tsunami is considered an accident) benefit and the bonus declared under the policy depending on the term of the premium.

A family in Madurai, which had lost some of its members in the tsunami in Nagapattinam, has received as much as Rs. 8.60 lakhs in claims.

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