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Housing scheme still on, PF Commissioner clarifies

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI DEC. 27. The Chief Provident Fund Commissioner, Ajai Singh, today tried to set at rest the recent controversy over the unique housing scheme for EPF (Employees Provident Fund) members by stating that the scheme was still on, though a few technical modalities needed to be worked out.

While talking to presspersons after presenting the annual report here, Mr. Singh said the housing committee set up for the purpose had agreed on the broad outlines of the scheme for workers where roles of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), housing agencies, State Governments, members and employers had been clearly brought about.

``The scheme envisages all these players working in synergy for fulfilling housing needs of members, security of the provident fund and viability of operations for financial institutions,'' he said, adding there were certain objections raised by the committee, regarding administrative procedure, payment of monthly instalment and insurance component, which was being worked out.

Stating that there were no plans of the Organisation to buy houses or get directly involved in the development of a housing project, Mr. Singh said their role would be that of a facilitator. "We are already giving members part of their PF contribution for housing purposes. But as per our estimates, around 50 to 60 per cent of it gets misapplied as members do not use it for housing purposes. So the new scheme specifically aims at a member having a house as an asset.''

A new and improved version of this scheme was now being launched, and so far good response were being received not only in Delhi but from the entire country, Mr. Singh said, adding the State Governments needed to show interest as the scheme would click only when land costs were cheaper. "Already Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh and Goa have promised major concessions in land costs. If this works, workers and other people of lower sections will get cheap houses.'' Presenting the annual report, Mr. Singh said there had been a remarkable improvement in recovery and enforcement front besides a good jump in number of establishment covered under its various schemes. "This year we added over 4,000 organisations to our list though the net membership declined from 50 lakhs to 29 lakhs. However, contributions to the fund raised from over Rs.15,000 crores to Rs.15,790 crores. Similarly, administrative revenue collections also went up this year.''

Stating that the issuance of account slips would be made more efficient, Mr. Singh said this year, more number of slips were issued this year as compared to previous years. Similarly, more cases of claims, advances and partial withdrawal were settled this year as compared to previous years. "This year we made around 43 lakh cheques through which Rs.25 lakhs were disbursed. Similarly, more new pensioners were added to our list and a total of 12 lakh people were getting pensions from our scheme.''

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