The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has issued guidelines that insurance companies must follow when settling insurance claims of victims of the recent train accident tragedy in Balasore, Odisha.

India saw one of its deadliest train disaster in decades on Friday near Balasore in the eastern state of Odisha, a tragedy officials have said was linked to an electronic signal system. The triple train crash killed at least 275 people and saw around 1000 people injured.

According to the Irdai press release dated June 5, 2023, “There is an urgent need for the insurance industry to take immediate steps to mitigate the hardships of the affected insured population by ensuring immediate registration and settlement of eligible claims.”
Irdai has asked insurers to take these urgent steps for expeditious settlement of all claims and submit details of the same as advised.

Dedicated help line
Please designate a dedicated help line 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.

Special camps
Details of offices/ special camps set up for the purpose and other relevant details may be publicized through your website, media and through State Government channels to enable filing of claims.Claims to be processed proactively
Claims shall be processed proactively, if the Insured name is in the list of deceased or injured persons, and was travelling in the trains which met with accident as identified by the appropriate/Govt. Authorities.

Payments
Claim payments/on account payments are disbursed at the earliest.

Awareness on simplified process
You are also requested to launch Extensive Awareness explaining the simplified process to file a claim, to enable the public to file the claims at the nearest branches or through online.

Display information on website
In order to gauge the magnitude of loss, 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 daily basis till one week and thereafter on weekly basis for a month in the format attached.

Insurance companies ease process
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has also announced relaxations for victims of the Balasore train tragedy and will speed up claim settlements in order to provide financial relief. To help affected families, LIC chairman announced many concessions to mitigate the hardships of the claimants of LIC Policies and also of Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.

Also read: LIC death claim settlement: LIC announces relaxations for victims of Odisha train accident

SBI Life has taken immediate action and implemented several measures to expedite the claim settlement process and to simplify the documentation requirements in order to provide immediate financial relief to the policyholders affected by the train accident and to ensure that their families receive the necessary support. “To mitigate the hardships of the claimants of SBI Life policies, the company has taken immediate steps to ease the claim settlement process and documentation process which includes receiving alternate valid proofs of the claimants and support the family members of the deceased in this crucial time,” stated the SBI Life press release.

Also read: SBI Life eases insurance claim settlement process for victims of Odisha train accident

Liberty General Insurance—that provides Personal Accident insurance coverage to IRCTC train passengers—has launched a dedicated 24/7 helpline for its policyholders impacted by the tragedy. Other actions include: A nodal officer has been appointed to oversee the process and ensure that customer queries and claims are handled efficiently and accurately; Proactive outreach to policyholders traveling on the two passenger trains involved in the accident is being conducted, seeking information on their safety; working closely with the IRCTC and railway authorities to provide support and assistance in every possible way; simplification of claims documentation to mitigate the hardships faced by claimants; swift and expedited settlement of claims to provide relief to the affected families.