Covid-19: Centre working to provide insurance for truckers soon

NEW DELHI: The Centre is likely to roll out a short-term insurance cover for nearly eight lakh truck drivers and assistants who transport essential goods across the country.

Centre’s empowered groups set up to fight the pandemic and the Life Insurance Corporation of India are working out modalities on a transport ministry proposal to reassure truckers of their safety. The insurance scheme is likely to be announced in a few days.

Of the estimated over 50 lakh trucks, only about 4 lakh ply daily with essential goods and medicines at the moment. The plan is to cover the 4 lakh truck drivers and 4 lakh assistants under the special insurance. The Centre had recently announced a `50 lakh medical insurance cover for healthcare personnel and sanitation workers.

The scheme for truckers will be for three months, and cover Covid-19 along with accident and death cover, a top government official told ET. The insurance will be extended if the lockdown or Covid-19 scare continues for a longer period.

The variables makes the insurance package tricky. It may be an expensive proposition given the several uncertainties and unknown factors associated with extending insurance packages to truck drivers, considered a high-risk group by most insurers. ET gathers that the Centre will pay the premium for the beneficiaries from the national disaster relief fund and packages of the health and consumer affairs ministries.

“We will start with an insurance package for drivers and assistants on the road through this lockdown period as a gesture of goodwill and reassure them as there is fear among those returning to work. We hope the industry will also take a cue and work on building similar packages,” a senior official told ET.