Unclaimed deposits lying with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) have always been a topic of debate. Now, an RTI query has brought to fore that a whopping Rs351.15 crore is lying with EPFO’s regional office at Nagpur. This huge amount belongs to over 7.56 lakh employees, who have failed to claim their hard-earned money.
The reply by EPFO’s central public information officer (CPIO) RW Thule also informed that over 16.66 lakh employees have been enrolled with the Nagpur office till February-end this year. He, however, failed to reply to a couple of queries by RTI activist Abhay Kolarkar, who sought information on criminal cases filed against companies for not depositing provident fund of employees from January 1, 2017, to February 28, 2018. Even information on how many persons were convicted and sentenced for withholding PF was not provided.
Thule, however, informed that there are seven types of pension provided by EPFO, apart from those at superannuation. These include the pension for children, disabled and widows as well.
According to Kolarkar, the PF accounts become dormant and the funds remain unclaimed when employees don’t claim it after retirement. However, reasons like official discrepancies, corruption, red-tapism, and issues in the online application are never been accounted.
Source: Times of India