SRINAGAR: Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC), EPFO, Neelam Shami Rao, on the last day of her three-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir today reviewed the functioning of the Regional Offices in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh here.
FA&CAO, Hemant Jain; ACC(HQ), K. L. Taneja and RPFC – I, Rizwan Uddin and other officers of EPFO participated in the meeting.
During the review meeting held at Hari Niwas, the CPFC was apprised about the progress made by EPFO in the UTs of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on multiple fronts such as coverage of establishments, e-nomination, claim settlement, pension disbursement, redressal of grievances, updation and correction of member profile, growth in collection of receipts, among others.
The CPFC expressed satisfaction about the functioning and progress made by the offices while at the same time suggesting to further increase the coverage and compliance of the Act so that more and more persons could be brought under the ambit of the Social Security net provided by EPFO. She took note of the challenges such as non-notification of certain sections of the Act by the UT government, requirement of additional resources in terms of manpower and infrastructure being faced by the offices of the region and assured them that due assistance will be provided to address the challenges.
Highlighting the importance of information dissemination campaigns in increasing the coverage and compliance of the Act, the CPFC instructed the officers in the UTs to regularly conduct outreach programmes in all the districts through seminars and using online technological platforms like webinars to reach out to the stakeholders and provide them information as well as hand holding support. She also mentioned that possibilities would be explored for opening up of a training institute in the region.
Later the CPFC held an interactive session with industry leaders at Institute of Hotel Management, Rajbagh, here. President, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Sheikh Ashiq; FICCI Chair, Jammu and Kashmir, Irfan Ahmad Guju; Chairman, Kashmir Economic Alliance, Mohd. Yaseen Khan and representatives of various trade bodies participated in the interactive session.
The session focused on increasing the coverage and compliance of the EPF & MP Act, 1952 in Jammu & Kashmir, social security benefit available under the Act, major initiatives by EPFO and challenges faced by different stakeholders.
Addressing the industry leaders, the CPFC appealed them to increase the coverage of the Act in Jammu & Kashmir and bring larger number of employees under the social security net.
FA & CAO and ACC(HQ) in their addresses highlighted about the social security benefits being provided under the scheme.
