Former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer and activist Kannan Gopinathan has raised concerns over the prolonged unavailability of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) portal, calling it an instance of “utter incompetence.”
Gopinathan, who resigned from service in protest against restrictions imposed in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370, took to social media on Thursday to highlight the issue.
“Dear Minister @mansukhmandviya, hopefully you're aware that the EPFO portal is down for weeks now. Hard-earned money of people being held as ransom to some stupid software update. And utter incompetence that you're not able to resolve it for this long! @socialepfo,” he tweeted, sharing a screenshot of the Unified Member Portal displaying a “Service unavailable” error.
The message on the webpage read: “The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.”
His post gained traction, with several users responding about their own experiences. “It works after 11pm, I have tried a couple of times,” one user wrote. “If possible, try logging into the website after 7pm,” suggested another.
Some replies were more critical. “It is a feature to delay the payout to citizens,” one user remarked sarcastically. Another noted, “This has been an issue for a long time with EPFO and ESI. No solutions arrived till now.”
The Telegraph Online also attempted to access the portal but encountered the same issue.
The EPFO, established in 1952 under the Employees' Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, manages and regulates provident fund accounts in India. It is mandated to ensure transparency and accountability in its operations.
The Unified Member Portal is a one-stop platform for EPF services for employers and members.