This is estimated to cost EPFO Rs 2250 crore, over and above Rs 750 crore being currently spent on land acquisition and construction of some buildings including regional building offices in Gujarat and some other states.
The plan is to have independent buildings for all zonal offices with training facilities, regional and district offices as well as for special offices in the north-east region while ensuring full utilisation of existing infrastructure, a senior government official, aware of the deliberations, told ET.
“This will help address the long pending issue of adequacy of space for increased efficiency,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.
The ministry of labour and employment recently mapped 1400 of its offices, including that of EPFO and the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, across India to understand and prioritise the expansion plans.
“The idea is to have an integrated approach to fully utilise the existing public infrastructure while going for massive expansion to make provisions for future requirements which is estimated to grow by 1.5 times to its present requirements,” the official added. Besides, focus will also be on expanding existing buildings and refurbishment, expedite pending construction works with emphasis on bigger offices first then smaller offices and purchase of land for buildingsEPFO has 283 offices including 21 zonal offices, 138 regional offices, 117 district offices, six training institutes besides its headquarter in Delhi. Of these, 118 offices are in EPFO own buildings while 165 are on rented premises.
The issue was taken up at the last board meeting of EPFO and labour minister Bhupender Yadav, who is the chairman of the central board of trustees of EPFO, assured the CBT that an informative agenda will be placed before the Board on progress of infrastructure facilities of EPFO.
CBT members suggested that the centre should approach state governments for speedier acquisition of land and give financial and administrative approvals on priority while also ensuring that the five year perspective plan is reviewed periodically.
Further, it was also suggested to make better use of technology to minimise space requirements in future while also reviewing the space norms, particularly for district offices, so that good offices can be constructed for comfort and convenience of employees as well as subscribers.