EPFO paid for programme launched by prime minister

The NDA government's Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shramev Jayate programme, held here in October, has given rise to controversy, with the fact emerging that its cost was borne by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the programme to create an environment conducive to industrial development while also ensuring transparency in the labour sector. It included a host of schemes that envisage, among others, portable PF accounts and a unified portal for labour inspection at firms.

Interestingly, the Labour Ministry has spent Rs 5 crore for the programme and all of which came from the EPFO.

When the issue of seeking approval for the expenditure came up in a meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), the EPFO's highest decision-making body, on Friday, many of its members objected.

In the meeting, chaired by Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, trust members said they were not aware that the money was spent by the EPFO.