KOLKATA, INDIA, Thursday, December 5, 2002: Devotees visiting the 150-year-old Dakshineswar Kali Temple near Kolkata (Calcutta) may soon be insured against terrorist attacks. Though properties of temples are often insured against theft, this is the first temple to cover devotees as well under an anti-terrorist insurance umbrella. The temple, draws five thousand devotees daily and at its annual festival, Kalpataru Utsav, beginning December 15, that number soars to 1.5 million. The temple could be paying an annual premium of US$1.25 million in this first of its kind policy. Insurance companies say the concept exists, it is known as public liability insurance. However, figuring out how many devotees will be covered under the insurance at a time and for how much is proving tricky. The whole idea is yet to sink in among regular devotees. The temple has 20 guards of its own, with two of them armed while four men staff a police camp on the premises on a regular basis. On special occasions, like the forthcoming festival, the state does increase deployment of police.
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