Hyderabad: Just a day after a 79-year old tradition All India Industrial Exhibition was shaken with major fire engulfing over 150 stalls, the traders are now caught in a fix as none of the traders, stakeholders of the popular exhibition bothered to check on the insurance aspect.
The stall allotment booklet does dwell a bit on the ‘insurance’ aspect but neither the organizers nor the traders happened to have taken it seriously and now over 150 stalls reduced to ashes, over 150 traders do not know how to recoup their losses, TOI reports.
This year over 2,500 stalls was granted for 45 days to the traders to showcase, sell their products by the Exhibition Society.
“In the rules and regulations prescribed in the booklet, we have clearly mentioned (Rule No 8 of Obligations, Responsibilities & Liabilities of Stall Holders) that it is compulsory for all stall holders to get their products/stalls/pavilions insured against theft, fire, and other natural hazards. However, none of them followed the rule,” Society vice-president B Srinivasa Rao told TOI.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ojqVK6Zjdg
“In fact, it is a major lapse on our part too. We never verify whether stalls take any insurance for their products or stalls. The allotment application was designed 30 years ago. After yesterday’s incident, we decided to amend the rules and regulations,” Rao added.
The awareness about the general insurance companies (GICs) which can be of great help if any such cases were to happen is very low among the traders.
Only traders that showcase high-value goods go in for such policies while others don’t say officials of insurance companies.
Exhibition Society president and former finance minister Eatala Rajender admitted that no insurance provision was made by the Society and stall holders.
“In view of the incident, we will modify rules by adding insurance as a major component during allotment of stalls at the next Numaish,” Rajender told TOI.