ESIC arrears due to non-payment stood at Rs 1,200 cr in FY15

The arrears due to non-payment of contribution towards health insurance scheme run by Employees' State Insurance Corp (ESIC) increased to Rs 1,203.02 crore in 2014-15, Parliament was informed today.
Non-payment of contributions by employers led to arrears of Rs 1,126.16 crore in 2012-13 that came down slightly to Rs 1,123.34 crore in 2013-14 and then again jumped to Rs 1,203.02 crore, Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
The minister added the dues are non-recoverable because of reasons -- Factories/Establishments having gone into liquidation; stay granted by courts; Factories/Establishment registered with BIFR; Factories/Establishments closed and whereabouts of the employers not known.

Separate recovery machinery is there in ESIC since 1991. Every Region/SRO has a recovery wing with Recovery Officer as its head. Annual target is fixed and monitored by the Revenue Division of the headquarter office, he added.
During 2014-15, the top five defaulter employers were SPIC Ltd. (Rs 70.81 crore), Narayana Educational Society (Rs 12.25 crore), Air Port Authority of India (Rs 7.37 crore), Titagarh Jute Mills (Rs 6.23 crore) and Dakshine Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (Rs 5.65 crore).
In a separate reply, the minister said the number of ESIC scheme beneficiaries increased to 2.15 crore in 2014-15 from 2.08 crore in 2013-14 and 1.92 crore in 2012-13.

In another reply, the minister told the Lower House that it has 968 vacancies of doctors and 4,372 vacancies of nursing and paramedical staff, at present.