Date:31/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/08/31/stories/2005083102121900.htm

Back EPFO to revive national security number project

Our Bureau

Kolkata , Aug. 30

THE Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is set to revive the project for issuing a national social security number. The project was postponed due to the delay in finalising the IT backbone and payment related issues with vendors.

Addressing an interactive session with the Bharat Chamber of Commerce here on Tuesday, the Regional PF Commissioner, Mr. S Raghuram, said the EPFO was now set to revive the project.

"I am expecting a communication this week for revamping the project and data collection from the member industries." The project is expected to be completed in two to three years.

Mr Raghuram said the unique social security number would not cover the entire country at one go. In the first phase, a pilot project would be introduced in six centres for stabilising the accounting system and software related issues. The second phase will include 20 centres followed by the entire country.

EPFO has a total of four crore members in 32 regional offices.

The national social security number will ensure that every employee will continue to have a single account till they retire irrespective of job switches. The IT-backed system is also expected to reduce the problems of delay in settling claims or transfer of accounts whenever an employee switches jobs.

According to Mr Raghuram, though the commission had considered issuing smart cards, the proposal was ruled out because of the cost involved.

"After studying similar systems in operation in other countries, we found that each had a limited life span of five years and the cost was prohibitive. We have therefore settled for issuing a permanent identification number to the member employees," he said.