Insurers told to add staff for crop cover

Chennai: The regulator IRDAI wants insurance companies to deploy adequate manpower in each cluster for effective implementation of crop insurance schemes.

The authority has been receiving various complaints and suggestions on claims. In this light, it has made a set of suggestions, which includes deploying enough manpower to liaison with state governments and to create awareness about Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana at grass-root level.

They should also support the bank branches, intermediaries and agents in uploading the details of insured farmers and beneficiaries with all requisite details on the National Crop lnsurance Portal on time. In each cluster these employees should observe the Crop Cutting Experiments and allied activities.

Insurance companies also should designate an authorized person for each allocated cluster. This designated person should be senior level permanent employee of the company having sufficient decision making powers for smooth implementation of the crop insurance schemes.  Insurers must ensure proper representation in crop insurance meetings called for by relevant stakeholders.

Senior level officials having the required decision making power should be deputed for such meetings.

The companies should put in place a robust system to register all requests of individual loss assessment. Where a request for individual loss assessment is rejected, a written rejection letter mentioning the reason should be sent to insured. For all other cases, loss assessment survey should be done as per prescribed guidelines.

IRDAI also wants the companies to conduct widespread awareness programmes for educating farmer on scheme guidelines, claim settlement process and grievance redressal process and all the details provided on the websites and through the call centres should be available in the vernacular language as well.