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Viewpoint | Four important aspects of property insurance

The loss of property due to fire is more common than you think.

April 18, 2019 / 09:27 IST
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Rajiv Jamkhedkar

A fire policy to cover your precious home, office and shop or godown is simply a must. The real estate assets usually run into lakhs and crores, and the reconstruction of property is extremely expensive apart from being painful.

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As I write this, one of the major news updates of the week is a dramatic fire destroying the iconic Norte Dame Cathedral in Paris. The Notre Dame is one of the most recognisable monuments in the French capital. Tourists throng it, the locals take pride in it and immense pain, effort and money have been spent on preserving it, conserving the beauty of the gargoyles carved on the outside and the typical gothic architecture. Yet, when I watched it burn in huge flames going all the way up in the sky, I could not but remember the words of a very good insurance broker I know. He used to say, “The loss of property due to fire is more common than you think.”

It bears repetition, again and again. In the housing society that I live in, a modern building complex, there have been 3 instances of electric fire gutting down an entire apartment in the last five years of my memory. My own flat has had a major fire that fortunately did not cause much damage but was difficult to control. Once a fire starts in small flats of our cities, it spreads so easily due to the household goods and pieces of furniture that the damage happens in minutes. Yes, it takes minutes to lose an expensive home or a decorated office or a shop filled with goods.