Shiv Sena and NCP MPs on Monday met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the parliament house and urged her to direct insurance companies and Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) for quick settlement of insurance claims of farmers and affected people from the flood hit districts in Maharashtra. The delegation also urged the minister for an early restoration of banking services in these areas due to complete submergence of many areas as citizens have lost their important bank documents like passbooks, chequebooks, fixed deposit certificates, loan agreements and ATM cards.
Shiv Sena MPs comprising Sanjay Raut, Vinayak Raut, Arvind Sawant, Anil Desai, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Rahul Shewale and NCP MPs consisting of Sunil Tatkare, Supriya Sule and Fouzia Khan handed over the two letters written by the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to Sitharaman.
The delegation argued that at a meeting with the CM, various insurance companies have shown willingness to pay 50% of the insured amount based on Panchnamas (assessment) by revenue authorities if suitable guidelines/instructions are issued to them by Government and IRDA. They recalled that similar action has been taken in past during such floods in Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala. The balance amount may be paid after all the documents are finally verified.
Further, the delegation said the unprecedented floods in districts of Konkan, Western Maharashtra and Vidarbha have left behind massive destruction, loss of lives, livelihood and severe damage to property and crops and it will take months for the affected people to recover from this disaster. ‘’In order to revive and restore normalcy in these areas, it is essential that the banking sector proactively engages and extends all necessary assistance to the affected families, trades and MSMEs which would enable restoration of economic activity and livelihood of thousands of affected people,’’ it said.
The delegation requested that the additional staff from other locations be pressed into services so that banking services in the areas cut off due to floods are restored expeditiously.
