Organisers of garba dance programmes to be held during the Navratri festival are busy roping in insurance companies to cover public lives and properties.
This follows fears of a possible terrorist attack or spells of communal violence during the programmes which will be conducted between September 26 and October 4.
Insurance companies such as Oriental Insurance Company and New India Assurance are getting unexpected business proposals, while private players such as Cholamandalam MS General Insurance have also gained businesses, as the countdown for the Navratri festival, Gujarat's most popular festival, has already begun.
"Looking at the threat perception after the recent developments in Gujarat as well as other states, organisers are opting for insurance cover for the public functions. We have signed a deal with the SOI Event Management company which has a total sum insured of Rs 3 crore (Rs 30 million) in which Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) is exclusively for the third-party insurance. This will take care of people in case of injury or death caused when they are present at the venue," said Niraj Khushlani, assistant manager of Cholamandalam MS.
SOI, which will organise three functions across Ahmedabad, has already paid a premium of Rs 100,000 to the insurance company in which profit-risk of the event management company has also been covered in case of SOI fails to continue the shows.
"We are asking all interested organisers to fulfill three major requisites for insuring with us. These are: private security guards at the venues in sufficient numbers, seeking police protection during the programmes are in full momentum and also arranging for fire-tenders and other precautionary arrangements," said Khushlani.
"Understanding the seriousness of the situation, insurance companies including nationalised ones such as New India and Oriental are scrutinising our proposals. But with the entry of private players like Bajaj Allianz and Cholamandalam, we are getting competitive offers from the companies for paying premiums but I must say that private companies are more stricter while processing papers," said one of the leading Navratri festival organisers in Ahmedabad.
"We are yet to get any offer so far from the organisers but we are ready to insure such shows including coverage of third-party insurance. I do not think that anything untoward will happen during the festival days, but organisers are not taking any chances," said Hiren Vora, branch manager, Bajaj Allianz, Ahmedabad.
Raju Shah of the Anubhuti Cultural group, which organises one of the most popular shows in Gujarat, said, "We are signing a deal with the Oriental Insurance for a sum insured of Rs 1 crore (Rs 10 million) for taking coverage of the public life during festival organised in our venue at Karnavati Club. Besides, we are also buying an insurance policy of sum insured of Rs 20 lakh (Rs 2 million) for property of the venue."
More than 11,000 people take part in the group's garba dance programmes.
Take the case of Hetal Parikh of Ace Promotion which will organise the dance programmes at Sports Club for nine nights and one day at the Karnavati Club.
Parikh is buying insurance cover for public life and also property protection.
"We have received the quotations from both New India and Oriental and we are going to finalise one of them soon," said Parikh.
An official of Oriental Insurance said, "Organisers are fearing that some trouble will break out during the festival this year, especially when the state government is also organising Navratri festival in a larger scale across the state along with the investors' summit. We are getting good business, but we are bit choosy about the proposals if we are not sure about the precautionary measures taken by the organisers."
John Geeverghese, owner of the Sales India chain showroom in Gujarat, and also the main organiser of the festival to be held at the YMCA Club on the Gandhinagar-Sarkhej Highway, said: "I have been organising the show for the last 10 years but never any untoward incident happened. This time, may be because of the hype created by the media, I will strike a deal with some of the major insurance companies to protect public life at my venue."