Other States - Orissa   

Lack of awareness dogs postal insurance scheme

BERHAMPUR: Ignorance is preventing people from availing several benefits of social security. Since 2004 the postal department has started an accidental death insurance scheme for its savings bank, monthly income scheme and senior citizen accounts with a tie-up with Oriental Insurance Company.

It is one of the cheapest insurance cover. To be part of it one has to only give one’s consent so that the postal authorities deduct Rs 15 as premium for insurance cover per year. In return the nominee of the account holder gets insurance money worth Rs 1 lakh in case of his or her accidental death.

The Post Master General (PMG) of Berhampur has handed over the cheque of insurance benefit to the first beneficiary of this insurance scheme.

The Rs. 1 lakh cheque was received by Kabita Rani Patnaik, the wife of Sarat Patnaik, a postal savings account holder of Gopalpur who had died in an accident last year.

Mr Kamila accepted that due to lack of awareness most postal account holders of Berhampur postal circle had not got themselves included in this cheap but beneficial insurance scheme. He said their aim was hundred percent inclusion of all account holders in this insurance scheme.

“No one would deny for this cheap accidental death insurance scheme,” he said.

The PMG proposed that in near future they would make this insurance scheme mandatory for all new account holders.

“We would come up with an advertisement calling upon account holders who are not interested to be part of this insurance scheme to inform us. Except the few, who would not agree to get included in this insurance scheme, we would suo motto deduct Rs. 15 from all other accounts and make the account holders part of this insurance scheme,”

Mr Kamila said. Despite this measure the post office account holders have to be aware of the scheme to get its benefit.

The cash crunched Postal Department is not in a position to take up any large scale advertisement drive to create awareness about it.

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