Chennai floods: Arun Jaitley asks insurers to settle all claims in four weeks, meets Jayalalithaa

CHENNAI: Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said he has asked insurers to settle all claims relating to floods in Chennai and other parts of Tamil Nadu within four weeks.
Jaitley, who met representatives of insurance companies, banks and financial institutions here on Sunday morning, said if there were any disputes, each insurer should have an ombudsman to settle disputed claims in another four weeks, instead of approaching courts.
Jaitley met representatives LIC and insurance companies, 27 public sector banks, National Housing Bank and 17 private sector banks.
“The immediate challenge is to provide relief, saving human lives and to provide basics for livelihood,” he said. Pointing out that it was a ‘fundamental principle’ to provide relief and rehabilitation measures in dealing with natural disaster, he said, “You cannot prevent the disaster, but subsequently you plan that there is a much better quality of life.”
The finance minister said he had requested 2,600 bank branches in four districts -- Chennai, Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Cuddalore -- to approve soft loans for flood-affected people. This could be housing loans, loans for household articles, vehicles, crops, shops or educational loans, he added.
"We will be sending someone from Delhi to review with the state-level bankers committee the progress of the rehabilitation process," he said while talking to reporters after a meeting with Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa at the Secretariat. The meeting at the Secretariat lasted for 40 minutes.
Later, in a statement, the chief minister said she had requested the Centre to release of Rs 2,000 crore for relief work, considering the severity of the devastation.