THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has increased the insurance cover for passengers and staff to Rs 10 lakh in the case of accident death, from September 21. Under the group accident insurance scheme, reserved passengers and staff will get a maximum of Rs 3 lakh for hospitalisation.
Earlier a reserved passenger had a cover of Rs 5 lakh in the event of death and hospitalisation claim of Rs 50,000. Unreserved passengers are eligible for Rs 5 lakh cover in the event of accident death and Rs 2 lakh for hospitalisation. Earlier the amounts were Rs 1 lakh and Rs 15,000 respectively.
“The decision to enhance the amount was taken after the accident at Vayakal in Kollam this July. It was found that the hospitalisation claim was insufficient to meet the expenses,” said a KSRTC officer. P Prakash who was driving the KSRTC bus suffered 30 per cent burns when the bus caught fire after being hit by a concrete mixer. He spent more than 15 days in Thiruvananthapuram medical college before succumbing to his injuries.
Under the new insurance scheme, the children (maximum of two) who lost their dependent parent are eligible for financial support. Reserved passengers are eligible for claim for lost baggage. KSRTC has directed its unit heads on the procedures to be followed for making claims in the event of an accident.
Under the insurance agreement the limit of liability has been fixed at Rs 4 crore for an accident.
For the current year, the maximum amount that can be claimed has been limited to Rs 50 crore irrespective of the number of accidents.
“Claims amounting to over Rs 2 crore have been realised ever since the group insurance policy came into existence in 2015” said Sabarinath G Nair, director of Securus Insurance Brokers (India) Pvt Ltd, which processes the claims on behalf of KSRTC. According to him there were at least 400 claims processed this year itself.
New India Assurance Company Ltd. is executing the scheme. KSRTC has to pay an annual premium of around Rs 2.6 crore to the insurance company. The premium was Rs 3.28 crore when the insurance scheme was introduced.