Yet another story of endemic corruption in the State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC)
Rs 43 Cr CP Fund Embezzled
Rashid Paul (Rising Kashmir)
Srinagar: The contributory provident fund (CP) of employees of State Road Transport Corporation (SRTC) amounting to Rs 43 crores has been “embezzled” as the contribution from workforce has not been deposited with the concerned government agencies.
A senior official at the labor commissioner’s office confirmed to Rising Kashmir that CP fund of nearly 4000 SRTC employees approximating Rs 43 crores from financial year 2000 onwards has not been deposited with the commissioner’s office.
Pleading not to be named he said “clarification has been sought from 14 unit officers of SRTC for not crediting the amount with the government. The money has simply been embezzled,” he said.
‘A CP fund @ 8.33 per cent of the total salary of each employee was being deducted every month but never deposited with the labor commissioner’s office,” said Shakeel Ahmed Kuchey, chairman of SRTC workers union. The procedure stipulates that the employer has also to make equal contribution towards the employee’s provident fund. But neither the contribution from the employees nor the employer’s share has been credited. The amount has been usurped by the SRTC management, Shakeel alleged.
He said an employee who wishes to withdraw his C P fund has to return empty handed. “They are forced to avail bank loans at exorbitant interest rates. Since the wages are not paid regularly, most of loanees have ended up as defaulters,” Shakeel said.
Altaf Ahmed, a senior SRTC employee said that he applied for withdrawal of his CP fund to arrange the marriage of his daughter. “I was denied and bluntly told that there is nothing I can pull out. I opted for a consumer loan at 14 percent interest,” Altaf said.
Ghulam Mohidin, another senior employee at the corporation said that hundreds of employees who retired over the past few years were also deprived of their life time savings. “Some of them expired while following their case. Now it is their widows who are lost in the maze of the corridors of power,” Mohidin said