Patna: With the commencement of lockdown, lakhs of jobs have been destroyed either in both organised and unorganised sector. Almost every sector got a major blow resulting in job losses and unbearable debts. Amid the pandemic, the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has provided a big relief.
According to a report published by EPFO, over 13 Lakh claims have been settled till April 30 in which more than one lakh claims have been settled for the people Bihar.
As per the EPF withdrawal rules, a member can withdraw an amount equal to three months of basic salary and dearness allowance (DA) or 75% of the credit balance in the account, whichever is lower.
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Rajiv Bhattacharya, Additional Central Provident Fund Commissioner, Bihar and Jharkhand, said that the provident fund office has cleared a total of 1,12,130 settlements since April 1.
Total settlement in three major districts:
Patna: 43,251 claims have been made in which 28,499 have been settled.
Bhagalpur: 2,163 claims worth Rs 2,91,00,000 have been settled.
Muzaffarpur: 3,629 claims worth Rs 7,00,84,681 have been settled till now.
New registrations
The provisional payroll data published by Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on July 20 has revealed that the subscriber base has grown by 3.18 lakh new net members during May 2020, registered a whopping 218 per cent month on month growth.
Despite the lockdown, around 1 lakh net new subscribers were added to the social security schemes of EPFO in April 2020. The data published comprises of all the new members who have joined during the month and whose contribution is received, EPFO said.
The number of members who exited and then rejoined indicates the switching of jobs by subscribers within the establishments covered by EPFO. This has also increased by approximately 19 per cent for the month of May 2020 over April 2020, with more subscribers choosing to retain membership by transferring funds rather than opting for final settlement.
Further, category-wise analysis of industry indicates that building and construction sector, hotels, transport; electrical, mechanical or general engineering products; education and textiles were adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in the month of April 2020.
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