1.33L withdraw from EPF

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, June 17

At least 1.33 lakh employees in private sector and outsourced and contractual workers in government departments of the state have withdrawn money from their Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) accounts in the past three months to make ends meet.

An amount of Rs300 crore has been withdrawn by employees under the Covid advance scheme till June 16, while over 5,000 claims are under process across the state.

A majority of these account holders have either not been paid salary or have got it partially. Those who have lost jobs during the lockdown have also withdrawn money.

Sources say 8,500 of the 1.33 lakh withdrawals pertain to the Rohtak regional office of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, covering Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind, Hisar, Sirsa and Bhiwani districts.

According to sources, around 90,500 claims pertain to Gurugramn, 21,000 toFaridabad and 13,000 to the Karnal region.

“I had to withdraw Rs10,000 from my EPF account to meet my daily expenses as the employer did not pay my salary during the lockdown,” said Rohit of Rewari.

Vikas Kumar, quality manager with a company in Gurugram, said his employer made partial payment of salary, forcing him to withdraw Rs13,000 from the EPF. The money was spent on buying grocery items and paying house rent, he stated. Rajeev withdrew Rs12,000 after losing his job during the lockdown.