Decision on EPF interest rate put off fourth time

New Delhi, Mar 10 (UNI) A decision on the crucial issue of hike in the rate of interest on the EPF was put off for the fourth time today after Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes told the Employees Provident Fund Orgnisation (EPFO) that he is pursuing the matter with Finance Minister P Chidambaram.

''I am still pursuing the matter with Mr Chidambaram and am hopeful that some assistance and solution will come forth from him,'' Mr Fernandes told the members of the Central Board of Trustees of the EPFO.

Later in a brief interaction with newspersons, Mr Fernandes said he hoped to convene another meeting of the Central Board of Trustees of the Fund very shortly in March itself to clinch the issue.

The issue was postponed twice during 2006 and twice in the current year till now. The central trade unions including the CITU, BMS and the INTUC are determined not to settle for less than 9.5 per cent but the government is reported to be insisting on 8.25 per cent.

Last year the interest rate was paid at 8.50 per cent, even as the central Trade Unions insisted that the issue involved the increase in the rate for the last two years as well.

The issue has social and political ramifications as it involves over 40 million subscribers directly and around 20 million indirectly.

CITU Secretary W R Vardharajan and AITUC national Secretary D L Sachdev who attended the meeting, told UNI that the minister had rekindled a ''ray of hope'' today. ''All the representatives of the TUs including the BMS wished him well in his mission.'' ''Otherwise we will be left with no other option but to intensify our united struggle to seek justice,'' they said adding that there was no justification for the government to reduce the rate of interest in the backdrop of the rise in the rate of interest being offered by various banks, post office and other financial institutions.

CITU president M K Pandhe said the best solution was to increase the rate of interest on the Special Deposit Scheme ( SDS) where about 80 per cent of the Fund to the tune of Rs 80,00,000 crore remain with the RBI for over 35 or 40 years.

Mr Pandhe, who is also a Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M), said the UPA government should not give in to the market forces and reduce the rate of interest and reminded it of its social responsibility towards the workers as enshrined in the Common Minimum Programme (CMP).

UNI