With a balance of Rs 27,000 crore lying in inoperative PF accounts, retirement fund body EPFO has set up an online help desk for subscribers to trace such accounts and seek final settlement. There are about 8.15 crore inoperative provident fund accounts. Inaugurating the online help desk, Minister of State for Labour and Employment Bandaru Dattatreya said, it would encourage the members to seek quick settlement of their accounts. Talking to reporters, Central Provident Fund Commissioner KK Jalan said, efforts would be made to reconcile all the inoperative accounts within a period of one year. He further said the EPFO would soon come out with a scheme to ensure online settlement and withdrawal of provident funds. The new scheme, which would significantly streamline the process, would be launched in a month or so. An official said, using the help desk, holders of the inoperative accounts can trace their accounts and go in for either settlement or transfer of PF to their present accounts. The inoperative accounts are those accounts wherein the contribution has not been received for 36 months. EPFO had stopped payment of interest to such accounts from April 1, 2011.