Kathmandu, October 31: The government has decided to extend the deadline for private firms and their employees to get registered at the Social Security Fund (SSF) to November 26.
According to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, such decision was made considering the difficulty in persuading the private companies to be a part of the ambitious fund that ensures pension and other facilities to the employees of such companies after retirement.
Earlier, the government had set the final deadline for firms to register their details by the end of fiscal year 2018-19. But, owing to lukewarm response, the government again extended the deadline for registration by three months to October 17.
So far, only 8,818 firms and their 100,968 workers have been listed at the fund. Currently, the total deposits collected by it amounts to Rs 76.5 million.
The numbers fall far short of the 923,000 firms registered at the Office of Company Registrar.
Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security, Gokarna Bista said that some so-called intellectuals were bent to make the scheme unsuccessful by spreading false rumours about it. “However, the government is determined to fully implement it by addressing all the genuine concerns raised by the concerned stakeholders,” he added.
According to him, a sizable number of big commercial institutes have been showing interest to be a part of the scheme by demanding for more time to do so.
The Social Security Fund has prepared the draft of investment modality guideline for depositors. Once the guideline is finalised, it will provide loans to the depositors for education, land and social purpose.
Additionally, it will also be able to invest in debentures, mutual funds, productive sector and co-finance projects, among others.
