Visakha Steel Employees Union Condemns EPFO Over Non-Payment of Retired Employees’ Pensions – Indian PSU

The Visakha Steel Employees Union has strongly condemned the alleged negligence of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Visakhapatnam, over the non-disbursement of pensions to retired employees of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant despite their timely submission of life certificates.

Union General Secretary Padi Thrinadha said pensioners had submitted their life certificates and received confirmation that these had been approved. However, EPFO subsequently claimed that the certificates had not been uploaded into its system. He asserted that pensioners cannot be held responsible for administrative or technical failures within the organisation’s system.

Responding to an appeal filed through CPGRAMS, EPFO reportedly attributed the delay to the introduction of its new CITES software, which prevented the life certificates from being updated and consequently resulted in pensions not being processed for the relevant period.

According to the response, the technical problem had been resolved and the pending pension amounts, along with arrears, were to be released by the end of September 2026 or during the first week of September, as stated in the communication. However, despite the lapse of the indicated timeline, the affected pensioners are reportedly still awaiting payment.

The union has demanded the intervention of the Central Provident Fund Commissioner to investigate the matter, fix responsibility for the delay and initiate appropriate action against the officials found responsible. It has also called for the immediate release of all pending pensions and arrears, stating that retired employees should not suffer because of administrative lapses or software-related problems.