Jammu, Dec 09: To safeguard the interest of social security of all eligible employees, the Regional PF Commissioner, J&K and Ladakh, Rizwan Uddin, on Friday visited USBRL Tunnel Projects T49B at Khari, and conducted a meeting regarding the benefits of PF compliance.
The EPFO Regional Office Jammu in a statement said that more than 250 workers and staff of the construction agencies were present including those who are working on USBRL Project at Khari. “It was found that many contractors and sub-contractors were in default. The PF Commissioner directed the IRCON International, Banihal to check the number of employees engaged by each sub-contractors of each establishment (major contractors) and their monthly compliance,” the statement said.
The EPFO also said that a meeting was conducted in the AFCONS conference hall at Nachlana, Khari where representatives of the companies – M/s IRCON International Limited, M/s AFCONS Infrastructure Limited, M/s KEC International, M/s ABCI Limited, M/s Mas Construction and M/s Beigh Construction were present.
The PF Commissioner instructed M/s Beigh Construction, which is in default, to pay all their pending dues. He directed IRCON International not to release any payment until the contractors clear all their dues.
“Another contractor who has deducted PF Contribution from his employees, but has not submitted the PF dues was also instructed to deposit all the pending dues immediately or strict action will be taken against him,” the statement said. “The PF Commissioner also directed M/s KEC International, M/s ABCI Limited, M/s Mas Construction to comply and pay the pending PF dues within two days otherwise strict action will be taken.”
The PF Commissioner personally visited the USBRL T49B at the Khari contractor site where the project is going on and found that more than 250 employees were present, the EPFO said, adding, “It was also found that some of the contractors and sub-contractors had stopped their work during the visit of PF Commissioner. The PF Commissioner listened to the grievances of the employees working under the contractors and sub-contractors in Khari. He apprised the workers of the Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95) as well as Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLI) scheme and their benefits. He advised the employers to deposit the PF of the workers so that the workers may get these benefits. He also advised all the workers who are not getting the PF benefits to report to the PF Commissioner so that they may get these benefits. Principal Employers were advised to set right defaults of sub-contractor who has been directed to submit the PF dues of all other members till evening so that benefits can be provided especially to the workers/labourers or strict action will be taken against the employer.”
During this, discussions were held in all the matters regarding PF Contributions, ECR, and PF Payment. The PF Records of the companies were checked and confirmed by PF Commissioner Jammu. “During the verification of records, AFCONS PF Compliances was up to the mark and no complaint was found against AFCONS, whereas a lot of improvement is required to other contractors who are working under the USBRL Project,” the statement said.
Rizwan Uddin advised all the stakeholders to comply with the provision of EPF and MP Act 1952. He laid emphasis in the social security benefits of the Act like insurance and pension benefits. All the workers expressed happiness and satisfaction that a senior officer of the PF department visited the site to listen to their issues related to PF Compliances, the EPFO said.
EPFO Regional Office, Jammu said it is always committed to providing prompt service delivery to all the stakeholders in a transparent, accessible, and convenient manner.
