PF trusts of Bengal jute mills to be dismantled, workers linked to EPF

Kolkata, Dec 26 (IANS) In wake of rising complaints against provident fund trustee boards of jute mills in the state regarding non-deposit of employers' contribution as well as the employees' contribution deducted, the West Bengal government has decided to dismantle these individual trusts and instead, link employees of the jute mills to the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

State Labour Minister, Moloy Ghatak announced this to representatives of jute mill owners and the different trade unions operating in the sector at a recent tripartite meeting on this count.

Sources aware of the proceedings of the meeting said that Ghatak pointed out that the employees of just a few jute mills in the state are directly linked to the EPFO office and the majority have their own trustee boards running the show.

"The minister also observed that recently, complaints have piled up against several such trustee boards of not depositing the amounts accrued on account of employers' contribution as well as the employee's contribution although the latter had been deducted from their salaries," a source said.

According to the source, running a trustee board requires a clearance from the state Labour Minister and an annual audit of the trusts is conducted by the EPFO office. It is learnt that in the latest audit, the EPFO office have identified such irregularities in depositing provident fund contributions, and also recommended action against some of these trusts to the state Labour Department.

Following this development, the Department has taken an in-principle decision not to allow any such trust in the jute mills of the state to continue. In future too, no fresh permission for such trusts would be given.