Insurance bungle: The dead were included in renewed policy

Panaji, Jul 31 (UNI) Believe or not! The names of late electricity linemen were included in the list of the insured.

At the sametime, the dead were deprived of the insurance benefit with the policy not renewed before it lapsed.

Another bureaucratic bungle was not claiming insurance money in respect of two dead linemen within a month.

Due to the apathy and indifference of the officials concerned in the Goa Power Department, it attracted the ire of minister Aleixo Sequeira.

He had directed the chief secretary and power secretary to initiate ''fit action'' against the erring officials for both the lapses with immediate effect.

The 'Janata/Gramin Personal Accident Insurance Policy' of the New India Assurance Company Limited was introduced in August 2008 benefitting about 1000 linemen.

In case of death, the kin of the insured employee gets Rs one lakh as compensation, the minister told UNI.

In case of Chandra Chalvayya Gowda, assistant lineman of Ponda division and Bhagwan J Khandekar, lineman/wireman of Margao division, the authorities failed to claim the benefit within one of their deaths. The former died on February 6 and the latter August 5, last year.

In case of lineman Durgappa Pujari (Margao) and assistant lineman Bhimayya Kariappa Gaude (Ponda), who died on September 13 and 14 last year respectively, the insurance policies lapsed.

In case of line helper Romaldo Fernandes of Vasco division, who died on June 30 this year, the policy remained unclaimed.

The minister, while according approval for renewal of the policy in August last, he had expressed ''dissatisfaction'' for delay in processing the proposal.

In spite of this, it took almost five months for payment of insurance premium as a result of which the policy lapsed, depriving two of the dead employees of the benefit, the minister bemoaned.

''I would like to put on record that at the time of renewal of the policy, the names of our dead employees have been included. It is sad that we have insured the dead employes,'' he added.

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