Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, M. Mallikarjun Kharge has charged the BJP-led NDA Government in the centre of jeopardising the savings of the workers covered under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) by proposing to the park the EPF funds in the stock market and other infrastructure works.
Referring to the statement of the Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, that the Union Government was considering investing the EPF and ESIC funds in the stock market and other infra projects, Mr. Kharge told presspersons in Kalaburagi on Wednesday. Mr. Kharge held the labour portfolio in the previous UPA government before being elevated to Railway Ministry.
He said that the Union government has set itself on a perilous path and would ultimately harm the interests of the working class.
Mr. Kharge said that savings under provident fund by employees was like life saving drugs and the Union government has no right to play with the lives of the working class and no right to take decisions on where to invest the contribution of the employees.
He said that it would be unwise to park more than Rs. 2.5 lakh crore available under the EPF and around Rs. 22,000 crore in the ESIC, which is also the contribution of the workers, in the volatile stock market, which does not provide an assured return to the investment made. In case of loss due to the market fluctuations, the government will not be able to repay the amount to the employees.
Recalling the pressure on him, when he was the Labour Minister for the same, Mr. Kharge said, “I firmly resisted all the moves for changing the course of investment and continued the investment in the nationalised banks which provided assured returns to the investments made in the form of deposits”.
He said that it was unfortunate that the central trade unions have not reacted or resisted to the proposed move of the Central government. Congress would raise the issue in the ensuing budget session.
Mr. Kharge said that the contributions made by the workers in ESIC were for their own welfare and not for the Union government. The government instead, should invest the available funds in ongoing projects including super speciality hospitals, dental colleges and medical colleges sanctioned throughout the country.
Taking severe exception to the decision of the labour ministry to provide funds for running ESIC medical colleges, Mr. Kharge said that this would only harm the interests of the members covered under the ESI scheme and said that he had already written to the Union government in this regard to continue the funding to ongoing medical education projects taken up by the ESIC.
