The members of All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), Madurai Region, staged a demonstration in front of the United India Insurance office near the railway station here on Wednesday, condemning the Union government for passing a bill to amend the General Insurance Business Act without any debate.
The amendment to the Act would allow the government to bring down its stake in state-owned general insurance companies.
The speakers at the demonstration said that the BJP leaders at the Centre had “some interests” to safeguard their friends in the corporate circuit.
The insurance sector was nationalised in 1971 and the country had a vast network of branches across all districts. The Union government received a dividend of ₹75,000 crore from the annual premium earned through general and other insurance companies, they said.
On the pretext of increasing revenues, the Union government planned to disinvest its shares and the move would only weaken the public sector, they said. The employees of insurance companies across the country would intensify their stir in the coming months, they added.