Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 16: To press for their demands, members of Jammu and Kashmir Employees Provident Fund Staff Welfare Association went on indefinite strike from today.
Led by their president Paramjeet Singh, these employees are demanding merger of JKEPFO staff with the central EPFO, release of salary and pension, GPF interest rate as per Government notification, conducting of DPC and settlement of SRO-43 cases.
The president of State Centre Labour Union, Nar Singh and general secretary Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, Harbans Choudhary also supported the protesting Association and its demands.
“The J&K EPF & MP Act, 1961 has been repealed and Central EPF & MP Act, 1952 has been enforced with effect from November 1, 11.2019 but despite elapse of around four years, no notification has been issued by the concerned authorities till date to safeguard our service interest which has left all the employees in distress with different apprehensions,” said Paramjeet Singh, in a statement issued here today.
Pertinent to mention here that the monthly administrative charges of the Organization which was the feeding account to all expenditure such as salary, pensions, allowances etc, has been shifted to Central EPFO but salary/grades of these employees have not been fixed/released as per the grades of their counterpart employees in Central EPFO.
The Association members said that they approached the concerned authorities time & again in this regard but nothing was done by the concerning authorities till date. They lamented that the salary of staff and pension of retirees from August’ 2023 onwards has not been disbursed till date due to which the pensioners/employees and their families are facing hardships for meeting the day to day expenses.
Further, they added, the retirement cases of the retirees have not been settled till date and inordinate delay is being caused by the authorities even when the Organization has its own administrative reserve. The concerned authorities of Central EPFO and JKEPFO are shifting responsibility on each other which
ultimately leads to harassment and mental agony among the staff/pensioners, they said.
The Association also alleged that the interest rates on GPF subscriptions of the employees have been slashed down to 5 percent by some officers of JK EPFO at their own, for the financial year 2021-22 and 2022-23 whereas the Government has notified the interest rate for year 2021-22 and 2022-23 as 7.10 percent.
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