Insurance is the best policy

Fed up of goods damaged by water every year, shopkeepers get flood insurance

July 26, 2005: City records 994 mm rainfall. Low-lying areas of Parel and Dadar heavily flooded. Water enters several shops. Residents stay indoors.

July 14, 2009: City records 163.7 mm rainfall. The odd person wades through knee-deep water. Shop owners know it's another bad day for business.

It's a situation traders in central Mumbai are accustomed to. With rains damaging their goods every year, a majority of traders in the area have insured their assets this year under the flood insurance scheme.



Bhawanji Gangar, who runs the Nav Bharat Swadeshi store at Hindmata, Parel, with his brother, is angry that his repeated pleas to the authorities to solve the flooding problem in the area have fallen on deaf ears.

He has insured the goods in his 78-year-old shop.
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"We can't see our stock destroyed every year and suffer losses because of the floods," said Bhawanji.
He added, "We can't move our shop to another location either and lose the goodwill earned over 78 years."
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Huge losses

Many traders have now accepted that even little rain means no business. "Nobody in the area steps out of their house when it rains.

July is a not a profitable month for us," explained Kiran Furiya, a shopkeeper in Parel.
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Added Madan Lal, a trader at Hindmata, "I can do nothing, but clear the water that enters into my shop and hope there is some business when the rain recedes. All shopkeepers in the area suffer."

Rs 30 lakh
The amount Bhawanji Gangar has insured his goods for