Dimapur, April 11 (MExN): The Central Government has launched the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) on March 26 to help poor fight the battle against Coronavirus.
As part of the PMGKY package, with a view to prevent disruption in the employment of low wage earning EPF members and support EPF covered establishments employing up to one hundred employees, the Central Government proposes to grant relief in form of credit of EPF & EPS contributions (24% of wages) for three months in UANs of contributory EPF members, earning monthly wage of less than Rs 15000, who are already employed in EPF covered establishments/factories employing up to one hundred employees with 90% or more of such employees earning monthly wage of less than Rs 15000.
To implement the above package, the Ministry of Labour, Government of India has notified a scheme specifying the objective, eligibility criteria, validity period, process and manner to avail the relief. The EPFO has put in place an electronic mechanism as part of the Electronic Challan-cum-Return (ECR) filing to enable the establishments to avail the relief in respect of their eligible employees.
The employer in relation to any eligible establishment shall disburse wages for the month to all employees of the establishment and file Electronic Challan cum Return (ECR) with required certificate and declaration to avail the benefit under the Scheme.
After ECR is uploaded and eligibility of establishment and employees is validated, then the challan will separately show amount of employees’ and employers’ contributions due as Central Government relief in respect of eligible employees and the remaining amount payable by the employer.
After the employer remits the payment due from him as reflected in challan, the EPF & EPS contributions will be credited directly in the UANs of the eligible employees of the establishment by the Central Government.
The details of the Scheme and FAQs containing clarifications on various aspects of the package are available on homepage of EPFO website under the TAB “COVID-19.”
