Scores of senior citizens are having to wait for hours outside an office on Park Street to claim their hard-earned savings, billed as a cushion for retired life.
The regional office of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, located on the seventh and eight floors of a building on Park Street, has been witnessing snaking queues almost every day.
On Tuesday, The Telegraph visited the office in the forenoon and spent a couple of hours there, speaking with several people who waited outside. Most of them faced procedural irregularities that delayed disbursal of money into their bank accounts. Many said it was their second or third visit to the office in a short span.
Almost everyone this newspaper interacted with requested anonymity.
Around noon, some 30 people — most of them senior citizens — waited in the queue in the eighth-floor corridor. A handful of people sat on a bench.
There was only one counter and a person was handling queries one by one.
An 86-year-old man was one of those waiting. The man came from Sealdah with his grandson. The octogenarian said he had not been receiving pension for several months.
“I had to wait for close to 40 minutes. But my work was not completed. I was asked to visit the EPFO office in Salt Lake,” he said.
The Salt Lake office has also been witnessing similar queues, said officials at the unit.
The EPFO is a statutory body under the Union ministry of labour and employment with a mandate to offer social security to employees of establishments registered with the organisation.
At the Park Street office, senior citizens were not the only ones subjected to the ordeal.
Despite four visits to the centre in the past year, a 46-year-old schoolteacher has not been able to complete the documentation for a change of surname in her pension account. After waiting for close to two hours on Monday, she was told that her documents were “incomplete”.
“If I was allowed inside, I could have met the right person on day one and known the set of documents that would be needed,” said the south Kolkata resident, who draws the family pension of her late husband.
Many people waiting in the queues said the office stopped allowing visitors inside last year to maintain social distancing. But in the cramped corridor outside and on the staircase, it was practically impossible to maintain social distancing.
“In June last year, a visitor complained about violation of social distancing norms at the Shakespeare Sarani police station. It was then that we barred the entry of visitors into the office. In the coming days, we will evaluate the situation and take a call on re-allowing them into the office,” said an official at the Park Street office.
EPFO officials said that most of the services were available online, certain issues may require a visit to the branches.
“Moreover, in October-November, all pensioners are required to submit their digital life certificates. While that can be done at banks, post offices and Jeevan Pramaan centres, there may be instances of failed biometric authentication,” said an official.
In such situations, it is necessary for pensioners to submit a letter explaining the cause along with a medical certificate at the EPFO branch office.