State-owned United India Insurance has received a claim from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) for the damage caused by a massive fire to its building in the National Capital.

The iconic National Museum of Natural History, which was housed in the FICCI building, was destroyed.

Milind Kharat, Chairman and Managing Director of United Insurance, said FICCI has lodged a claim with the company and the size of the cover is ₹45 crore.

Industry experts said that it is yet to be ascertained if the National Museum was also separately insured.

According to reports, the three floors that housed the displays were gutted and museum officials have not yet managed to take stock of what they can salvage from the thousands of artefacts that were a part of its collection.

The fire, which broke out in the wee hours on April 26, could potentially have destroyed several fossils, including a 160-million-year-old dinosaur skeleton, a collection of bird eggs, and several stuffed animals, besides preserved butterflies, amphibian and reptile specimens.

Largely underinsured Insurers say that most public properties in India are typically underinsured for risks such as fire even as premiums in the segment have been falling due to the increasing competition among insurers. Fire insurance typically consists of FLEXA (fire, lightning, explosion/implosion and aircraft damage); NATCAT (flood, storm and allied perils, landslides/subsidence); and Other Perils (riots, strikes, malicious damage, bush fire, bursting of pipes/overflowing of tanks, leakage from sprinkler installations, missile testing operation, impact damage due to rail/road vehicles/ animals).

Access issue M Ravichandran, President-Insurance, Tata AIG General Insurance, said the increasing damages in recent fire incidents concern insurers due to the difficulty posed in fire-fighting operations, such as hindrance in accessing building/structure due to clogging of entry points, poor maintenance of fire protection system/equipment, and lack of awareness in operating/handling fire-fighting equipment.

Incidentally, after the Chennai floods, which led to claims of around ₹4,800 crore, insurers recently hiked rates on the NATCAT component of fire insurance by around 10 per cent.

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