The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) on June 05, 2023, issued the scheme relating to Guidelines on Insurance Claims of victims of recent Train Accident tragedy in Balasore, Odisha (June 2023).
The following has been stated namely: -
• The immediate registration and settlement of eligible claims have to be done to mitigate the hardships of the affected insured population.
• The immediate steps for quick registration and disposal of claims have to be initiated on the following lines: -
1. Designate a dedicated helpline under the supervision of a senior officer at the Insurer level who would act as a Nodal Officer for the affected people. The Nodal Officer would be coordinating the receipt, processing, and settlement of all eligible claims. The details of the Nodal Officer and the helpline number of the insurer may be given due publicity including hosting on the website.
2. Details of offices/special camps set up for the purpose and other relevant details may be publicized through your website, media, and the State Government channels to enable the filing of claims.
3. Claims shall be processed proactively, if the Insured name is on the list of deceased or injured persons, and was travelling in the trains which met with the accident as identified by the appropriate/Govt. authorities.
4. Claim payments/on-account payments are disbursed at the earliest.
5. Extensive Awareness must be launched explaining the simplified process to file a claim, to enable the public to file the claims at the nearest branches or online.
6. All life and non-life insurers (Including Standalone Health Insurers) are advised to publish the information on their website relating to insurance claims related to the accident on a daily basis for a week and thereafter on a weekly basis for the month in the prescribed format.
• Urgent steps must be taken for expeditious settlement of all claims, the details of the same must be submitted as advised.
[Notification No. IRDAI/NL/CIR/GDL/122 /06/2023]
