Fighting the Fires

For last some months we have seen a consistent trickle of news stories about fire incidents at different localities across Kashmir valley. These incidents have not taken place in just one locality, or one part of the valley, but are spread all across. Whatever the reasons for such fires, the outcome is the same. It is the people losing all their belongings of life, going shelter less, and facing an uncertain future with great economic hardships.

We have often observed, in all such instances, that the penetration of insurance in our society is very less. Even where people take different insurance schemes for safeguarding themselves and their families from such eventualities, there are two problems that are faced post event. One, it is suddenly discovered that the choice of policy hasn’t been right and it doesn’t cover as many things as one would require. Two, the follow up needed to materialise the necessary financial cover is where the families struggle.

The insurance companies, the agents and the insured people are never in sync, and it often ends up in the necessary help not reaching the affected families. Such a scenario entails that our society is adequately informed about the choices in the insurance policies. It also means that the insurance companies should audit the performance of their ground staff about how they educate people about various insurance policies, the benefits and the risks that associated with them.

What is also needed is that the government should put in place an effective mechanism of grievance redress in this regard so that victims are not subjected to any wrong treatment at the hands of an insurance agent. Beyond insurance, what is also required is that government should have a robust mechanism to offer timely assistance to such families.

It is only after we exhaust these two sources of help that the society at large should join the rescue and assistance work. Lastly, beyond this post event assistance, we need to look into the very reasons of such incidents and make necessary corrections in our constructions and the way of living. If some government agency can undertake a deeper study of these fire incidents and come with a genuine study on the reason of these fires, necessary correction can be suggested on an informed bases.