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Himachal writes to Centre to refund money deposited towards NPS
Moving a step ahead to reinstate the promised Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the Himachal Pradesh government has written to the Centre to refund money deposited towards the New Pension Scheme (NPS)
Moving a step ahead to reinstate the promised Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the Himachal Pradesh government has written to the Centre to refund money deposited towards the New Pension Scheme (NPS). Himachal seeks ₹7,500 crore deposited under the NPS.
Reintroducing the old pension was one of the main poll planks of the Congress in the assembly elections that considerably influenced the polls in the hilly state which has a strength of 2.5 lakh employees. Nearly 1.15 lakh employees fall under the NPS and 2,30 lakh under the OPS. The employees in Himachal had been constantly demanding reinstating of the OPS.
“The state government is committed to providing OPS to employees in the very first Cabinet meeting. The Congress has given 10 guarantees to the people of the state in its manifesto during the general assembly elections recently and the government would implement all these guarantees in a phased manner,” said chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu while addressing a delegation of NPS employees here today. The party had announced the revival of the OPS, employment opportunities to 5 lakh youth, compensation of ₹1,500 per month to women, 300 units of free electricity, a start-up fund of ₹680 crore for the youth, four English medium schools in each of the 68 assembly regions of Himachal, free medical treatment in every village through mobile clinics, and that cow dung cakes will be purchased at ₹2 per kg.
Sukhu blamed the BJP government for the poor fiscal condition in the state. “The BJP government spent recklessly during its tenure it set up 900 institutions at the fag-end of its tenure. These institutes would put an additional burden of ₹5,000 crore per annum,” he said.
He said that formula has to be evolved so that pensioners could get a regular and respectable pension. He said that the state government has written to the Centre to clear its due amount collected under the NPS contribution. President of NPS employees’ association Pradeep Thakur said the employees would be indebted to the state government for the decision to implement the OPS. He said the state government and employees were contributing ₹1,632 crore per annum to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
Former vice-president of the Employees Welfare Board Surinder Mankotia also gave his suggestions.
Meanwhile, while addressing a function on the occasion of 138th Foundation Day of the Indian National Congress at Rajeev Bhawan here on Wednesday, Sukhu said the state government and the Congress would work with better coordination to come up to the expectations and aspirations of the people.
Sukhu said that he was connected with the Congress for the last 40 years. He said almost all Congress MLAs of the state have a strong organisational background. He said that the state government would give due weightage to Congress workers. He said that there could be differences of opinion on certain issues among the party workers, but the ideology cannot be different.
Party will work in tandem with govt: Pratibha
Congress president and Lok Sabha member from Mandi Pratibha Singh said that the party will work in tandem with the government. She was addressing the 138th foundation of the Congress at the state headquarters.
She said the Congress regained power in Himachal after a struggle of five years.
She said the Congress has a huge contribution towards the country’s Independence. She said that great leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi carried forward the ideology of Congress.
