KSRTC to Pay Rs. 2.6 Crore to New India Assurance to Cover Passengers and Crew

Applicable from 21st September, Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) increased the insurance cover for reserved and unreserved passengers and staff. In the event of accidental death, the cover for reserved passengers and staff is increased to Rs. 10 Lakh from Rs. 5 Lakh, whereas in case of group insurance, the cover for hospitalisation claim is increased to Rs. 3 Lakh from previous Rs. 50,000.

For the unreserved passengers and staff, the same amount is increased to Rs. 5 Lakh in the event of death and Rs. 2 Lakh for hospitalisation expenses, as opposed to earlier Rs. 1 Lakh and Rs. 15,000 respectively.

New India Assurance Company Ltd. has executed this scheme. The insurance company under the scheme will receive an annual premium of around Rs. 2.6 Crore from KSRTC. Earlier when the scheme was introduced, the premium paid was Rs 3.28 Crore.

On occasion, a KSRTC officer commented that the decision to increase the amount was taken after an incident in July at Vayakal in Kollam where the bus driver suffered burns when the bus caught fire by hitting a concrete mixer. He later died after spending 15 days in Thiruvananthapuram medical college.

Under this scheme, the maximum of two children can get cover on loss of their dependent parent. Even the loss of baggage cover is available for reserved passengers. KSRTC has directed all the unit heads on the claim process. The limit of liability for an accident is fixed at Rs. 4 Crore under the insurance agreement.

For the current fiscal year, the maximum claim amount is set at Rs. 50 Crore, irrespective of the number of uneventful incidents.

Director of Securus Insurance Brokers (India) Pvt. Ltd., Sabarinath G Nair on occasion said that since the inception of the scheme in 2015 claim of over Rs. 2 Crore has already been realised in which 400 claims have been processed in the current year itself. Securus Insurance Brokers (India) Pvt. Ltd. processes claims on behalf of KSRTC.