Shishir Arya | May 16, 2015, 03.04AM IST
Nagpur: Hoping employers may finally act, Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is starting a door-to-door campaign to create awareness about its unique account number (UAN) project. Even earlier the EPFO has held such drives on UAN activation.
UAN gives provident fund subscribers direct access to their accounts. As EPFO has finished its job of providing UAN to all 4.28 crore employees covered under its scheme, it is the employers' turn to activate the numbers now. There has been a poor response from the employers' side however.
The system requires the number be activated by employers, who also have to upload KYC details like bank account and Aadhaar number of workers. The details have to be validated through a digital signature of the employer after which the numbers are finally activated.
However, so far, only 13% of the UANs have been activated. EPFO sources say a large section of employees covered may not be even knowing that there is an UAN in their name due to their employers' indifference. As against 4.28 crore UANs allotted, only 56 lakh have been activated. The employees can insist for activation of the UAN, said an EPFO source.
EPFO sources do not rule out that the employers' reluctance may be due to the fear that providing direct access to employees may also expose defaults in PF remittance. The UAN provides access to all the details of an employee's PF account. . Not activating the UAN is also punishable, the source added.
In Nagpur, where the EPFO has completed its job of allotting UANs, not more than 12-13% numbers have been activated. The campaign will start here from the MIDC estate at Kalmeshwar, followed by camps in Butibori and Hingna. Similar camps will be held in Chandrapur, Gondia and Wardha districts in the next fortnight.
Uploading the Aadhaar number of the employee is a key step for activating UAN. However, so far only over 52 lakh Aadhaar numbers have been uploaded in the system. The job has to be done by the employer. A much larger number of employees are expected to have Aadhar cards, the source said. In Nagpur, EPFO had also held camps for securing Aadhar numbers.