The Hindu reports that apathetic bank officials of the Canara Bank are refusing to honour an accident cover claim under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana by the family of Amarnath pilgrim Nirmala Thakur, who lost her life in the terror attack on July 10 in Jammu and Kashmir. Seven pilgrims including Ms. Thakur were killed when their bus came under terrorist attack in Anantnag district.
Her son Pradip Thakur told the newspaper that the officials at the Canara Bank’s Dahanu branch said his mother hadn’t filled out a specific form while opening the account under the Central government scheme, which guarantees accident cover of Rs. 1 lakh to the account holder. “My mother had opened an account in the bank under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. I want the bank to pay the insurance amount. Modi jine kaha tha (PM Narendra Modi had promised it),” says Mr. Thakur. Ms. Thakur had nominated her husband as the beneficiary.
He adds: “We are not very educated. It was the bank’s duty to inform us about the form when we were applying for the account with them.”
His wife, Rekha, adds, “How were we to know the procedure? They told us about other formalities, but didn’t mention a form for insurance. Rekha says she had accompanied her mother-in-law to the bank and both had applied for Jan Dhan accounts on the same day.
The bank officials are defending themselves, however. Insurances for riots and manmade disasters, anyway run into several complications as people-unfriendly regulations and a sector that has not been made accountable, are not made to pay up.
Officials at the Canara Bank’s Dahanu branch said Ms. Thakur is to blame for the situation. Initially, Manisha Matkar, the branch manager, said the Thakurs were mistaken. “Mr. Thakur is probably talking about another insurance cover, under which you need to contribute Rs. 12 per month. He should have approached me to resolve the issue,” Ms. Matkar said, when this reporter sought to know if bank officials were aware of the in-built insurance cover for Jan Dhan account holders.
Vineet Abraham, who will be succeeding Ms.Matkar as branch manager, said he doesn’t know about the Thakurs’ problem. claims he has no idea about the issue. “The person should have filled the form,” he said.