Staff of Employees Provident Fund Organisation’s Regional Office, Tambaram, staged a demonstration on Wednesday afternoon, to protest the assault on their colleague at his home on Monday evening.
Around 6 p.m. on Monday, two men assaulted Shankar Ramasubramanian (39), Enforcement Officer of EPFO, at his home on Elangovan Street, East Tambaram. The officer sustained serious injuries on his hands, neck and shoulder and was rushed to a private hospital in East Tambaram. He is currently out of danger.
Staff and office-bearers of employees unions said the attack on Mr. Ramasubramanian was not an isolated one, as similar attacks on field staff of EPFO had taken place across the State in the past.
“Enforcement Officers are working under severe stress. There are just eight officers, against a minimum requirement of 20 at the Regional Office here, the jurisdiction of which includes Puducherry, Vellore and Ambattur,” said C. Sivagnanam, Joint Secretary of EPF Staff Union. The field staff, he said, raced against time and also had to put in long hours to ensure recovery of ‘current demand’ (PF dues from private companies for the current financial year) as well as previous year’s dues.
Enforcement Officers ensured that at the regional office in Tambaram, a high rate of recovery was maintained with current demand at 83 per cent and arrears for previous years at 63 per cent. The officer was assaulted by a stranger with a cricket bat last month too, they pointed out.
Selaiyur police said they were on the job of tracking down the culprit.
