Aggrieved sr citizen writes to PMO for restarting pension

Nagpur: Fed up with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) suddenly stopping monthly pension of thousands of retired employees like him, an aggrieved pensioner has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to release their dues at the earliest.
The PMO office, through officer Vikas Kumar, replied that a temporary hold has been put up on disbursement of pension on higher wages in cases which were under scrutiny and and where verification of original records was underway.
On July 12, TOI had highlighted the plight of thousands of pensioners across the country after the EPFO abruptly stopped enhanced pension paid on the basis of higher contribution from the employers’ side. The move adversely affected thousands of retired personnel, including 160 from the city, as it has also stalled their regular monthly payout.
The distressed pensioners twice staged protests in front of the EPFO’s regional office under the banner of ‘Employees Pension (1995) Coordination Committee (EPCC)’.
Abhay Kolarkar, who retired in 2009 from Nagpur Nagrik Sahakari Bank, wrote the letter to the PMO after EPFO stopped his pension from February.
Quoting Supreme Court’s order, he said the EPFO had sanctioned enhanced pension to the employees who were retired prior to 2014. Accordingly, the EPFO’s regional office here received 1,597 applications for enhanced pension of which 160 are cleared. Kolarkar, who’s also an RTI activist, was one of the beneficiaries of this scheme.
“As per the scheme, my pension was enhanced from Rs1,075 to Rs7,060. The EPFO paid it regularly for the months of December, January and April this year. But it hadn’t paid the pension for February, March, May, June and July. The EPFO officials are also not telling us the exact reason for stopping our pension, which is our only means of survival. Many pensioners had taken loans for paying enhance amount, while some sold their properties,” Kolarkar said.
Citing TOI news of July 12 regarding the protests by pensioners, the senior citizen pointed out to PMO that they were in big trouble because of non-receipt of pension for months now. “As it’s a serious matter, it’s requested to take immediate action and grant relief to thousands of senior citizens, who’re being forced to run from pillar to post for their genuine rights,” he said.
The enhanced pension was made available after the employees deposited the surplus contribution from the employers’ side that had earlier gone into their PF account, along with interest back to the EPFO. Now as the pensioners are also demanding that the amount should be returned at least if the higher pension has been stopped, EPFO officials say they were in a quandary.
(With inputs from Sakina Dawood)