GUWAHATI, Dec 3: From close to 40,000 tea estate workers not registered for provident fund facility to low rate of settlement of family pension claims, several issues plaguing the Assam Tea Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (ATEPFO) have been flagged by the CAG in a recent report.
The Comptroller and Auditor General report on the organisation from 2017-18 to 2021-22, which was recently laid in the state assembly, has highlighted areas where the ATEPFO, which was established to ensure social security benefits to workers employed in tea plantations and factories in Assam, is yet to fulfil its mandate.
A total of 1,197 tea estates are registered under the ATEPFO, out of which 624 have fully enrolled workers, it stated.
The report said the total number of eligible workers who can be registered is 12,37,351, of whom 11,98,231 are actually registered.
This implies that 39,120 eligible workers were “deprived of the benefits” of the schemes under ATEPFO as of March 2022, it said.
The CAG report also stated that there was shortfall in deposit of PF contribution of Rs 315.45 crore at the end of March 2022, involving 334 tea estates. In 83 per cent of these estates, “this delay/non-deposit was to the extent of five years”.
This figure excludes the tea estates owned by the Assam Tea Corporation Ltd (ATCL).
There are 20,994 employees under 19 tea estates of ATCL registered under ATEPFO.
However, due to acute financial crisis, these tea estates had defaulted in depositing employees and employers share of PF contribution since 2005, the report said.
The total default amount and statutory interest stood at Rs 419.07 crore, of which “only Rs 32.43 crore (8 per cent)” was deposited with ATEPFO till March 2022, and the outstanding PF contribution and interest stood at Rs 386.64 crore, it said.
The ATEPFO had said in October 2023 that as of September that year, ATCL deposited the entire outstanding PF contribution, and 15 per cent statutory interest due on delayed deposit was to be deposited.
During 2017 to 2022, 87-96 per cent of PF claims and 99 per cent of pension claims were settled by the ATEPFO, CAG said in the report.
Clearance of family pension cases, however, was only 10-39 per cent during the period, it said.
As many as 1,994 claims of PF, pension, family pension and deposit-linked insurance fund scheme involving Rs 14.01 crore settled by ATEPFO were not credited to the bank accounts of the concerned beneficiaries, due to reasons for failed transaction as of March 2022, it stated.
Out of these, 52 per cent cases pertaining to 2017-18 and 2018-19 were pending for more than three years.
The report said due to investments made by the ATEPFO in certain corporate bonds “without keeping in view the criteria of safety”, which started defaulting in payment of interest since 2019-20, resulted in loss of interest to the tune of Rs 11.42 crore.
Moreover, there is probability of loss in six such bonds amounting to Rs 69.61 crore on maturity in various periods till September 2027, it added. (PTI)
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