Jaipur, Dec 11: Around 117 tamed elephants at Amer Fort on the outskirts of Jaipur are not only proving to be cash cow to their owners, but also lending good businesses to the insurance companies too.

The latest trend in the city is to insure the elephants on account of increasing number of accidents during joy rides, which has become a boon for the insurance companies.

From Amer Fort alone, the 117 elephants pay around Rs. 3500 to 4500 as annual premium to the insurance companies and comprehensive insurance of around Rs 140 million including Rs 20 million as insurance to damage of properties.

The death of any elephant would mean the owner of the jumbo being paid Rs one million.

On their part, the owners said that they felt the need of the insurance as the cost of maintenance of an elephant is hefty similar to the proverbial white elephant.

“Today, elephant''s maintenance is really costly. Secondly to cover the risk of foreigners who come for a joy ride on the elephants, the insurance becomes really important. Elephant''s insurance, tourist''s insurance and the third party insurance have been taken care of as it is really risky to avoid accidents in such crowded roads,” said Abdul Rasheed, President of the Elephant Owners Association.

An insurance expert mentioned that on the basis of elephant valuation, the insurance of the animal is not correct as the sale or purchase of animal is banned.

However, to ensure the safety and avoid the blame work in case of accidents, the Tourist Department decided to extend the insurance services to the elephant owners and even made it mandatory to insure an animal.

“Tourism department thought in case of any accidents, who would take the responsibility. So, that was the first professional approach towards the insurance of the elephants which was initiated by the Tourist Department in Jaipur,” said Arun Kumar, an Insurance Claim Investigator.

Since insurance companies are earning hefty amount from the elephant owners of Amer Fort, they have valued each elephant to be worth around Rs. one million. (ANI)