The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has summoned the top brass of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) after a fire on Friday night destroyed its vigilance wing office in the capital.
Several fire tenders were deployed to douse the flames at the NBCC Tower in the Bhikaji Cama Place around 10 pm. The fire was brought under control a little after midnight.
FIR filed
Central Provident Fund Commissioner (CPFC) Sunil Barthwal confirmed the incident to The Hindu and said an FIR had been filed in the matter.
“Forensic and police investigations are now in progress to determine the cause,” Mr. Barthwal said in a text message.
A stone’s throw from the EPFO’s headquarters, the NBCC building houses several offices including the Bank of Maharashtra’s zonal office. However, the fire affected only the sixth floor where the vigilance wing’s office is located. All files and documents pertaining to vigilance inquiries are feared lost.
The CVC is learnt to have raised concern about the fire’s impact on the wing’s functioning and the fate of investigations it is carrying out. The wing usually probes cases against employers evading PF remittances and complaints against its own staffers, who administer the savings of crores of formal sector workers.
The CPFC did not respond to queries from The Hindu about the CVC’s intervention and whether there was a backup of the destroyed files.
