The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has shelved the plan of doubling the minimum pension for about 4.5 million pensioners due to fund crunch, Mint reported, citing officials.

The Union labour and employment ministry has shelved the plan of increasing the pension for their subscribers from the existing Rs 1,000 per month to Rs 2,000 per month, at least for the time being.

“This is now on hold. We cannot go ahead as it will burden us financially," one of the officials was quoted as saying in the report.

The report added that the increase in the pension could lead to an additional burden of Rs 1,500 crore, annually, on the government. A labour ministry official told the paper that this year being the election year, it was not possible to demand more funding.