India Inc reaches out to Kashmir
Corporates extend help to victims in line of their business
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-14 06:13 GMT
Chennai: India Inc has made generous donations towards the rescue and relief operations in Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of the flood in the state. Monetary donations apart, corporates are providing flood victims help that is relevant to their line of business. While telecom companies have come up with roaming agreements and location services to track the missing people, airlines and insurance firms have come up with special concessions for the Valley’s residents.
Telecom major Aircel has come up with a free location-based tracking service for all customers to help people locate their family and friends stranded in the flood-affected areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
Internet major Google, on its part, has created a crisis map for Kashmir through recent satellite images to help various agencies involved in rescue operations. It has also come up with a person finder that lets people post information about people they are looking for or if they have information about someone who is untraceable.
So far, 8,200 records have been updated. Apart from carrying supplies to Srinagar, domestic airlines like Jet Airways, GoAir, IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India have played a crucial role in evacuation and provided medical aid and psychiatric help to the survivors of flood ravages.
Anticipating an increase in flood-related claims, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has advised life insurers to nominate a nodal officer to settle flood claims expeditiously for the Kashmir people.
Further, the regulator has instructed companies to follow last year’s Uttarakhand floods model in settling death claims if bodies were not traceable. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has already set up a dedicated helpline to help Kashmir flood victims with claim registration and any related assistance.
Industry body CII tied up with the Indian Army to airlift relief material, mainly consisting of food items, like biscuits, ready to eat food, packaged drinking water, juices, blankets, medicines, water purifiers, batteries, utility items, toiletries, among others to Srinagar for speedy distribution among the flood victims.
With the possibility of expenditure on disaster relief being counted as part of the mandatory 2 per cent CSR initiative under the Companies Act, an uptick in corporate contributions is expected.