Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad   

Social security card for PF subscribers soon

By Y. Mallikarjun

HYDERABAD Sept. 22. After voter ID and PAN card, it's now a social security card with a unique ID number for Provident Fund subscribers that can facilitate `anywhere anytime' settlement of claims and benefits.

A massive exercise, setting in motion the process for shortly handing over the social security cards to lakhs of PF subscribers, has already begun in several cities, including Delhi with officials from the respective PF offices visiting local employers and taking the fingerprints as also a digital photo of each employee.

According to sources, the objective of the new exercise is to settle any claim within three days and expedite the delivery of benefits to subscribers. Currently, the claims need to be settled statutorily within 30 days. The biggest advantage of the new procedure when implemented will be that a PF subscriber could draw his or her benefit or have the claim settled from anywhere in the country and not necessarily from the place where he is working.

Explaining further, the sources have told The Hindu that a PF subscriber, who wishes to draw a benefit while on a visit to another place, could submit and draw the claim from the local PF office.

The new procedure is expected to be implemented once the process of linking all major PF offices in the country to a centralised computerised system in Delhi is completed.

Another advantage of the new method will be that it will do away with cumbersome procedures such as opening a new PF account when an employee changes his job and joins a new organisation. His or her account number will remain the same once the subscriber is given the social security card with a unique ID number. Similarly, it will remain unchanged after an employee's retirement and continue as his/ her pension pay order (PPO).

With about 21 lakh PF subscribers in Andhra Pradesh, the PF authorities are initially concentrating on the State Capital where about six lakh subscribers will be given the cards. Officials from the PF office have also briefed the management representatives of various organisations about the advantages of the new procedure.

Apart from serving to draw pension, PF and insurance benefits, the social security card, containing all the personal details of the subscriber, can also be used as an ID for availing of other services such as applying for a telephone.

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