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EOBI disbursed Rs 70 m in Jan

KARACHI: The Employees Old-Age Benefits Institutions (EOBI) here on Saturday announced to have disbursed Rs 70 million among some 1,65,000 pensioners registered with it during the month of January 2000.

EOBI, a welfare institution working under the Pakistan Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas, has been disbursing pensions among retired or invalid workers of commercial and industrial institutions, all over the country, since 1983.

"We have, till date, distributed Rs 5.6 billion among workers of industrial concerns, registered with us", EOBI Director, Mohammad Afzal Bela, said.

Among the pension recipients more than 1,19,000 were stated to be old-age pensioners while around 40,000 are widows of deceased workers.

Mentioning that EOBI has registered more than 1,470,000 workers belonging to 42,777 industrial, commercial and relevant institutions, the EOBI official regretted that a large majority of private sector institutions had failed to cooperate with it in the larger interest of their own workers.

"All private schools, hospitals, departmental stores and industries, with a strength of 10 or more, come under the ambit of EOBI", Bela said, adding that none of the registered workers is required to contribute anything. Maximum contribution to be made by establishments is Rs 150 per month for each worker, as only 5 percent of up to first 3,000 salary is to be paid.

Five percent share of those earning less than Rs 3,000 is accordingly charged from the employers.

EOBI official regretted that while employers have nothing to pay from their personal pockets and are to make the contribution from the company's expenses a general reluctance is noticed among their attitude.

Under EOBI rules and regulations, workers, both male and female, with a minimum 15 years service at any concern having a working strength of atleast 10 people, are entitled for the pension.

The age limit for women workers to be registered with EOBI is 40 years, while for men it is 45 years and they are required to have at least a five-year service record in the authorised institution. Those once registered with EOBI through their respective employees remain entitled of the facility, even after rejoining another institution. The new employer is made to contribute the nominal share.

The EOBI director said that in case of demise of any of the registered workers, the survivors, including widow, minor children and old parents, would be entitled to get the pension as per rules. APP