By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun 3 Oct: Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee President Karan Mahara has demanded immediate restoration of employees’ Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in the state. In a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mahara has reiterated that for a long time, government employees have been demanding restoration of Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and on the demand of employees, some states of the country, including Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Punjab, have also restored the Old Pension Scheme.
Mahara stated that a large section of the society is dependent on government jobs for livelihood and after retirement, most employees prefer to take their deposited amount under the pension scheme in the form of monthly pension instead of receiving a lump sum fund for a secured living. Under the old pension scheme, 50 percent of the basic salary received by the employees at the time of retirement was payable and half of the basic salary was given as pension. Not only this, under the old pension scheme, the DA component in the pension is also increased from time to time just like it is done in case of serving employees, which can offset the effect of inflation.
Mahara has said that at present, the Central Government has implemented Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) against the demands of the employees, calling it better, but the people who were recruited after 2004 and are retiring are getting very meagre pension even as the inflation is continuously increasing. Not only this, the employees have to make their contribution also in this scheme, whereas in OPS the pension was completely dependent on the social security scheme provided by the government. In the new UPS implemented by the Central Government, clear information has not been given about the withdrawal of the employee’s contribution. The employees believe that if the government can give the option of New Pension Scheme and Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), then what is the problem for the government in giving the option of Old Pension Scheme (OPS)? And if the government can give 50 percent of the basic salary in UPS, then why can’t it give 50 percent in OPS? He claimed that under the UPS scheme, the government has made a provision to increase its contribution by 18.5 percent under which those who have worked for 25 years will be get the benefit of 50 percent which is equal to the old pension, but employees who have worked for less time will be given only ten thousand rupees and DR, while their 10 percent contribution will remain with the government and only the last 6 months’ salary will be returned to them, which is not fair.
Mahara stated that the Congress Party demands that in the larger public interest, the old pension scheme (OPS) of employees across the country should be restored immediately.
