EPF panel to check feasibility of housing scheme for members

With a view to providing housing facility to EPF members on a large scale, a committee has been set up to examine feasibility of a housing scheme for them.

At a meeting of the board of trustees of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma said he had already initiated discussions with some states for provision of land at cheaper rates for housing for workers. The Minister, who is the chairman of the board, said the committee would also examine the involvement of agencies for taking up the end-to-end responsibility of the scheme as well as the modalities required for implementing it.

During last year, 1.4 lakh epf members were provided housing advance totalling Rs 745 crore. “This was not sufficient and the existing mechanism needs to be reviewed,” he said. He said a bill for extension of social security benefits to majority of workers was likely to be brought in Parliament. Verma said the government was examining the amendments approved by the board along with the recommendations of the second National Labour Commission in this regard. The cbt approved a programme for imparting literacy to illiterate workers in the organised sector.