Contractor Agencies asked to ensure provision of Provident Fund for all workers

JAMMU, MAY 28: EPFO Regional Office, Jammu hosts awareness and outreach programmes at Salal Power Station, Jyotipuram, Reasi and Konkan Railway Conference Hall, Reasi.

A large number of employees were found to be un-enrolled in PF by the Sub- Contractors of Konkan Railway Projects, Reasi.

The P F Commissioner J & K and Ladakh, Rizwan Uddin advised the Railway Authorities to ensure that none of the workers engaged in the Railway Project Sites is without a UAN. They were also advised to confirm that all eligible employees are enrolled as members.

Konkan Authorities were advised to review the Compliance of all the Contractors and Sub- Contractors engaged by them and set right compliance of Contractors and Sub Contractors regarding Provident Fund within Seven days.

Seminar at Salal Power Station, Jyotipuram, Reasi

Sh. Rizwan Uddin, RPFC – I, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh addressed the participants during the session. Shri Rizwan Uddin, RPFC-I was formally welcomed by Sh. J.C. Sarkar, General Manager (Incharge), Salal Power Station and he apprised him about the various works being done in the Power Station and appreciated the public outreach programme being conducted by the EPFO, Jammu. Rizwan Uddin, RPFC – I, Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh addressed the Project Management, Contractors & the Contract Labourers during the session. The session focused on social security benefits available under the EPF & MP Act, 1952 and the schemes framed there under, major initiatives by EPFO and challenges faced by different stakeholders. Sh. Satyawan, General Manager (E&C) & Sh. Sanjeev Kumar, Group Senior Manager (HR) from Salal Management also participated in the awareness programme In the programme EPFO resolved many queries of contractors & contract labourers and this initiative of EPFO was appreciated by the management, contractors and contract labours.

Seminar at Konkan Railway Conference Hall, Reasi.

Shri Rizwan Uddin, RPFC-I in the presence of Dy. Chief Engineer, Shri Jayasimhan, directed the contractors and sub- contractors present in the meeting to present all their documents related to Provident Fund of the subscribers and thoroughly instructed to fill the PF of all the workers regularly. RPFC-I checked the documents where it is found that most of the contractors are either not depositing the Provident Fund continuously or depriving the workers from the social security benefits under EPF & MP Act 1952.

M/s ABCI Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. Who have four sub-contractors in the Jammu Region was directed to pay the PF dues within the next three days.

M/s SRM-Rajinder (JV) is having total employees of 210 and paying the PF of only 40 members wherein depriving the other member from the PF benefits. The contractor has been directed to submit the PF dues of all other members within the next three working days so that benefits can be provided especially to the workers/labourers or strict action will be taken against the employer. M/s Paras- Psovl (JV) and M/s Age-Patel has been directed to pay the PF dues of all the members within the next three working days or strict action will be taken against all those employers who are/were not paying the PF regularly.

Some other establishments like M/s Afcons Infrastructure Ltd, BD Security, Larsen & Toubro etc are paying their PF dues regularly and Sh. Rizwan Uddin, RPFC-I has appreciated them for complying with the EPFO. Shri Ramesh Raina, representative of PNSC Infra and Subzar Ahmad Roy ( JV) promised that they will enroll all the employees within three days. They were not complying so far, though they received the contract in November, 2021.

The Regional P.F Commissioner highlighted that all those eligible employees who were deprived of the pension are now covered under the Employees’ Pension Scheme after the implementation of the EPF & MP Act, 1952 in the UT of J&K and Ladakh from 01st Nov 2019. In case of any causality as cited above, the pension will be paid to the widow/widower, children of the deceased member. Also, in case of disability, the employee will be given pension throughout his life. It was also emphasized that an employee who continues to be in service tenure for 10 years up to the age of superannuation (58 years) under EPFO will be eligible for pension benefits under EPS 1995.

He cited the importance and benefits of the Employees Deposit Linked Insurance scheme, 1976 and the Employees’ Pension Scheme, 1995 which the subscribers of J&K and Ladakh were previously deprived off or benefits were considerably lesser than that of EPF Act. Provident Fund members under EPFO are also eligible for insurance benefit under EDLI Scheme up to Rs. 7 Lakhs whereas under erstwhile J&KEPF Act, 1961 benefit was available up to Rs 75000/-.

He further appealed to the representatives of the educational institutes to comply with the provisions of the Act and Schemes in its true spirit and regularly make PF remittance, updating e-nomination and KYC details of all their employees.