Nitish, Lalu, Ram Vilas Share Platform with Chidambaram
Patna: Sept. 2, 2007
 Central Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, while inaugurating the east-central regional office of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) at Sri Krishna Memorial Hall in Patna on Sunday admitted Bihar needed extensive federal aid to combat flood situation in the state, and to bring improvements in the field of health, education, and industries.
"The UPA government is ready to provide full support to Bihar because it is a known fact that without Bihar, India could not develop to its fullest," Chidambaram said amidst loud applause by the audience.
The Finance Minister said starting October 2, nearly a crore people in Bihar living below the poverty line would be insured by the government.
 "By October 2008, over a crore people would be insured under this scheme after which the plan would further be expanded to include more people in it," he announced.
Applauding the role of LIC in the Indian society, the minister said the three-letter acronym was well-known to people from all walks of life and despite stiff competition from many private players in the recent years, LIC still stood strong at number one position in the arena of life insurance.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who shared the dais with two of his political rivals – the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Steel and Chemical Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan – thanked the Finance Minister for opening the regional office in Patna but offered advised to the LIC to simplify its process for obtaining a policy and claim settlement.
"With such a terse process, even I had to back out from my decision to obtain a policy for myself," Kumar said describing how he changed his mind after the LIC officials insisted he got his physical done by doctors prescribed by them when he was the Railway Minister.
"If only the LIC officials showed the same level of interest in settling claims that they show while selling the policies; many more people would come forward and get life insurance policies for them and their loved ones," Kumar said.
Lalu Prasad Yadav, in his speech, while commending the LIC for opening its regional office in Patna, said the Indian Railways was also contributing to the industrial development of the state.
"We have already initiated setting up several railway factories in Bihar including a locomotive wheel factory in Chhapra, a locomotive factory in Marhaura, and a freight car factory in Sonepur. All these would tremendously increase job opportunities in the state," the Railway Minister said.
LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan also hailed the LIC's decision to open its regional office in Patna saying it should thrive to provide the same level of facilities to ordinary people as offered by private insurance companies.
Paswan further said that despite all political and ideological differences among various parties, on the issue of development, there should not be any divergence.
"If we all worked towards the same goal, Bihar would be the number one state in the entire nation," he said.
Among those present on the occasion were the LIC chairperson T. S. Vijayan, regional manager B. Raju and a large number of LIC employees and agents.
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