Call this insurance?

A nationalised bank I visited recently had a prominent notice: 8220;If any of the employees asks for a bribe, please report it.8221; Sadly, no such warning has graced the walls of a leading government insurance office in Delhi. It may have saved thousands from getting duped. Recently, there was a CBI raid on this dust-covered office and ten officials were suspended for taking bribes to clear claims.

I should know. Last year my car was stolen and with that my trauma began. Government officials interrogated me as though I had stolen it myself. The cops finally registered an FIR after I persisted for days. The surveyor took months to compile his report. Repeated calls to my agent didn8217;t help. Finally I trekked to the insurance office myself, only to confront a closed door at 9.30 am. It creaked open an hour later. Since I didn8217;t like the idea of becoming a supplicant, begging for my dues, I decided to go to the top. A harried manager, newly appointed to purge the office of its corruption, promised to expedite my case. I was asked to complete a host of bewildering forms. Rather than stocking the forms, I was sent to a distant transport authority office, only to return again for signatures.

Since my car was registered in Chandigarh, I had to queue up at a transport authority office there. They told me the officials in Delhi 8220;forgot8221; to give me an essential certificate. So I had to travel back to Delhi. Umpteen trips later, on reaching the insurance office armed with forms X ,Y and Z, a vigilant clerk spotted an error. The transport authority had typed 8216;88217; instead of 8216;68217; while recording the car8217;s chassis number. He was elated to trip me up.

Obtaining my claim was more illuminating than the breathless stories on insurance liberalisation littering the biz papers. I learnt car theft files were pink, accident ones yellow. I learnt that car theft files were dumped in a cupboard and forgotten. I even overheard my agent boasting he had warned a 8220;party8221; if they wanted their claim processed speedily, they would have to pay for it. I was determined not to bribe. I thought protection of life and property in Booming India was my right. I forgot it was just a business.