RAJYA SABHA
The Labour Minister
Dr. Sahib Singh told the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour today
that efforts are being made to launch the housing scheme announced
recently for the Employees Provident Fund subscribers. He said
that no precise time-frame for its implementation is possible
as it involves inter-ministerial consultations and also consultations
with social partners. Moreover, state governments have been requested
to provide houses/flats at cheaper rates for the scheme. The Labour
Minister said that the subscribers will have to bear the cost
of the flats/houses. The government will facilitate provision
of money from their EPF deposits and also arrange loans for them
through HUDCO to meet the cost of the flats. He said that the
Employees Provident Fund will spend money from its corpus for
construction of houses/flats and the cost shall be borne by the
members. Dr. Sahib Singh said that the Regional Provident Fund
Commissioners have been asked to find out from establishments
in the regions as to how many workers want to participate in the
scheme.
