A Parliamentary panel has proposed comprehensive insurance coverage for all properties located in disaster prone areas.

The Standing Committee on Finance noted that India has become more vulnerable in recent years to floods, droughts, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, avalanches, etc, due to factors such as climate change, deforestation, and encroachments, etc, reported The Times of India. Out of 36 states and union territories, 27 are disaster-prone.

The panel studied recent devastating cyclones, floods and landslides in Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala and the financial constraints faced by the affected states in meeting relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction expenditure.

The committee said that any investment in mitigation and prevention of disaster risks will go a long way in building capacity for significantly reducing expenditure on relief and disaster response.

"Towards this end, the committee desires that comprehensive insurance coverage be provided to all the properties (including public properties) located in the disaster prone areas/zones and all insurance claims including crop insurance should be settled in a fast-track mode," it said.