The Life Insurance Corporation of India agents from across the district staged a demonstration outside the LIC office on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway here on Tuesday seeking fulfilment of their various demands.
The protest had been organised under the aegis of the Mandya unit of the Life Insurance Agents’ Federation of India (LIAFI).
Raising slogans against the LIC for what they described as unnecessarily creating issues, the protesters took exception to the Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, which is due to come up for discussion before a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Wednesday. B.R. Mahesh, secretary of the federation, told The Hindu that the amendment would be detrimental to the interests of LIC agents.
The protesters strongly opposed the levy of service tax on insurance premiums paid by policy holders. Taking exception to the LIC not introducing any new plans, they said new plans should be introduced for women and children, he said.
The protestors urged the LIC and the Union government not to deduct tax at the source (TDS), increase the commission rates for agents, stop unhealthy practice of directly marketing insurance plans and upgrade the IT system.
Later, the protesters submitted a memorandum to Chief Manager of LIC (Mandya) Somesh.
President of the federation A.S. Gowrish, treasurer B. Lakshmana, vice-president Mahadevappa, and others were present.
