Bangalore: Mangalore in Karnataka has been identified among seven cities in the country for a pilot project by the employees provident fund (EPF) organisation to provide 'national social security number' to members, which starts on February 25.

The first social security number will be allotted to President A P J Abdul Kalam at a function, to be organised in New Delhi on February 25, Joseph Pushpam, regional provident fund commissioner, Karnataka, told reporters.

Pushpam said nearly 21 lakh EPF subscribers in Karnataka would be covered by 2007 under the social security number.

He said besides Mangalore, Patna in Bihar, Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Vishakapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Gurgaon in Haryana had been selected for the pilot project.

Pushpam said the project would also cover the unorganised sector, besides employees covered by the employee state insurance (ESI) schemes.

He said with the social security number, employees could access their EPF account anywhere in the country and also make contributions from any location.

Pushpam said 21 lakh employees from 25,530 establishments were covered by EPF in Karnataka.

PTI