Only 78 passengers of Indore-Patna Exp are eligible for insurance

Only 78 passengers of the ill-fated Indore-Patna Express are eligible to claim insurance money out of whom five died in the mishap, IRCTC said on Thursday.

According to it, a total of 209 passengers opted for travel insurance while making booking tickets as of November 19. There were 128 passengers eligible for insurance out of which 50 tickets were cancelled, leaving 78 eligible passengers.

Five among these passengers died in the tragedy, in addition to seven cases of injury and hospitalisation and eight minor injuries. 150 people died in the November 20 accident.

The optional insurance scheme offers travellers or their families compensation of up to Rs 10 lakh in the event of death or permanent total disability, Rs 7.5 lakh for permanent partial disability, up to Rs 2 lakh for hospitalisation expenses and Rs 10,000 for transportation of mortal remains in the event of death or injury from a train accident or other untoward incident, including terrorist attacks, dacoity, rioting, shoot-out or arson, as well as for short termination, diverted route and Vikalp trains.

Processing of insurance payouts to survivors and families of the victims of the train eligible to receive compensation under the travel insurance scheme for passengers who booked their tickets through Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), are on the fast track, said a release .

The affected passengers are covered under insurance companies - Royal Sundaram (32), Shriram (14) and ICICI Lombard (32).

The claim for the five death cases has been provisionally approved by the insurance companies, and they are in touch with the families to complete the claim settlement formalities.

Only one passenger had filled up the nominee details for the insurance while for the remaining four the claim settlement will be made with the legal heir as soon as the documents are provided. The families have requested time for providing the documents.

For the seven injury cases, insurance companies are getting in touch with the passengers and their families. A few of these cases are for cashless hospitalisations or through TPA (third party administrator).

In case of 36 passengers, the insurance companies are not able to make contact as the phone numbers provided are either switched off or not reachable. In these cases firms have sent emails on the given ID, inquiring about their well-being and providing contact details of the representative of insurance company.

"We have deputed our TPA (third party administrator) to the injured passengers to provide support on the treatment and to ascertain the cost of medical treatment. Once we get TPA report we will settle the claim quickly," managing director Neeraj Prakash said.

The company has reached out to the family of the dead passengers and is working on settlement of claim, he added.

Shriram has received a premium of Rs 87 lakh from around 1 crore train passengers so far, he said, adding, "we expect close to 25 claims in the first year of operations."

Under the scheme, the personal accident policy provides Rs 10 lakh cover for death and permanent total disability, Rs 7.5 lakh for partial disability, up to Rs 2 lakh for medical expenses for hospitalisation due to accident and Rs 10,000 for transportation of victim's body.