Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has expressed its concern over abrupt increase in employers' share of contribution in EOBI for social insurance and the unjust notices to industries, asking them to also submit outstanding dues of the last three years and asked the EOBI Chairman Muhammad Sualeh Faruqui to review his decision.
MCCI President Fareed Mughis Sheikh believed that the decision to raise contribution, followed by unjust demand to submit dues of the last three years was practically impossible for industrialists who have already been facing immense hardships because of high cost of doing business and struggling really hard to stay afloat.
Referring to EOBI notices, Fareed said that both the employers and employees' share of contribution would now be calculated on the basis of revised minimum wages, ie Rs 13,000 as amended through the Minimum Wages for Unskilled Workers Act 2016, which means that the total employers' share of contribution including employees' share of contribution has almost doubled as it has been raised from Rs 480 to Rs 780."Even if EOBI feels it necessary to revise contribution ratio, the institution should implement it from April 2016 onward. The trade and industry is ready to contribute at the rate of Rs 13,000 but it should be collected from current month as collection of outstanding dues, apart from being un-practicable, will put an extra-burden on the industry, which has already been facing liquidity crunch due to multiple reasons", they added.
Fareed Mughis said the chamber has been in constant touch with the authority concerned to resolve the issue pertaining to Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution's (EOBI) abrupt demand to submit outstanding dues of the past three years at revised rate, which would hopefully be resolved as per aspirations of the business and industrial community.