Uday Dhote: "It took us five months to come on track"

It was the 26 July 2005 deluge. Almost the whole of Mumbai was paralysed.

Our workshop, our office and CTP systems and bindery, all three are located at different galas within a distance of 1 km. But only our workshop (which housed the printing machines, cutting machines, paper, inks, etc) situated on the ground floor was affected. The office and CTP systems on the first floor just escaped the wrath by a whisker. The bindery, although on the ground floor escaped entirely since it was on a certain height.

At 6 pm, I was sitting in my office, and talking on the phone to Prashant Shah of BMPA. I was telling him that God was kind to us that the floods had not affected us. Just then, I saw water gushing in our workshop on the CCTV. Then there was no stopping of the water. Finally when it ended in the wee hours of the next morning, it was six feet of water in the premises.

It took over five months for press to come on tracks.

No, we were not suitably insured for the calamity. There were a lot of shocks and the problems of fine print and terms and conditons. We had never read them so seriously, earlier. Since our office was not affected, the insurance papers were intact. But when the professionals pointed out the lapses in our policies, we were really worried. 

We had a standard fire policy. I don't remember the details, because one of managers (who ha spassed away since then) had handled the entire thing single handedly.

 My memory is vivid. We did not get any help from our agent, insurance company or assessor. I only remember taking the help of a professional surveyor.

My tip to fellow printers is:  Print associations should educate the printers properly. Print association should think of appointing a retainer consultant for insurance claims and insurance advise.

Medha Virkar was honoured with the Outputlinks' Women of Distinction Award for her industry experience, leadership skills and participation in the industry. Virkar who heads Kaleido Graphics has compiled a set of interviews with the printers affected by fire, floods and other accidents as part of Special Insurance Theme in the latest issue of Mumbai Mudrak Sangh's Print Bulletin. The above interview is an excerpt from the November 2014 print edition.