City Provident Fund office ranked 137th in country

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 20

As there is poor response by businessmen of the industrial hub in filing e-nominations of their employees, eligible for provident fund (PF), the Regional Provident Fund Office of the city has slipped to 137th rank in the country.

As per the record accessed by Tribune pertaining to e-nomination, this number means the department has achieved only 1.49 per cent of e-nomination. The Ludhiana PF office has 5,846 working establishments on its record, which have 2,86,279 contributory members. Of these establishments only 752, which have 4,277 members, have filed e-nominations.

There are 5,193 establishments, which have filed zero nominations while 421 have filed only one nomination.

e-nominations helps in getting provident fund (PF), pension (EPS) and insurance (EDLI) benefits easily on member’s death. It also facilitates nominee to file online claims without any hassle or search for employer to sign the death claim benefits. Considering it as a serious lapse on the part of business establishments, the PF office has served notices and is considering legal action against units for non-compliance if the situation does not improve by November 30.

As per the data pertaining to PF offices across the country, the Nizambad PF office has scored first rank with 46.28 per cent e-nominations followed by the Mangalore office with 35.35 per cent, the Udupi office with 29.65 and the Kollam office with 24.17 e-nominations.

Talking to The Tribune on Friday, Sumeet Singh, Regional PF Commissioner-II, said, “The PF office has been running special awareness campaign since three months regarding e-nomination. All business establishments are being continuously requested through seminars, emails and social media platforms to hand-hold employees for e-nominations so that their family members do not face any issue in getting claims at the time of untimely demise.”

“Now, we have served time bound notices to top 500 establishments. It is due to poor response and indifferent attitude of the establishments that our office, which is otherwise one of the best on other parameters, has scored 137th rank when it comes to e-nominations,” he added. “e-nomination of EPFO subscribers is considered as an activity under the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) commemorating 75 years of India’s Independence,” he said.

He further said, “Failure to file e-nomination sometimes leads to denial of social security umbrella to kin of EPF subscribers especially in case of migrant workers, whose families stay back in other states and are not aware about their legal rights.”

Dheeraj Gupta, Regional PF Commissioner, Ludhiana, said, “We have sought active cooperation from employers in the city for achieving 100 per cent e-nomination of all contributory employees/members by December 31. We have been given target by the head office to complete 50 per cent e-nomination at the earliest,”