No plans to spend money in dormant post office a/cs on schemes: Government

NEW DELHI: There are no plans to appropriate unclaimed money lying in post office accounts to fund social sector schemes, but the government may consider the issue in future, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Responding to a supplementary by a BJP member, Communication Minister Manoj Sinha said there are no plans to use such money lying in dormant accounts.

As per rules and laid down laws, the money remains with government till the kith and kin of the account holder are informed about the account, he said.

But at the same time, Sinha said in the coming days, government would consider the suggestion.

The response of the Communication Minister came a day after trade unions disrupted a meeting of EPFO trustees protesting against the government's decision to appropriate unclaimed PF money for funding senior citizens' welfare schemes.

Responding to another question, he said the department lacked postal workers but there were plans to redeploy the staff to utilise their services at the 1.50 lakh post offices across the country.