1.4 mn govt employees to go on strike from Aug 29 seeking notification of revised NPS

On Tuesday, the Maharashtra State Gazetted Officers Federation (MSGOF), a union of class 1 and class 2 government officers, gave a notice to the state government saying they would go on strike from August 29 over demands for notification of the revised NPS and other issues

Mumbai: Over 1.4 million government and semi-government employees in Maharashtra including bureaucrats and teachers will go on an indefinite strike from August 29 over the state government’s failure to implement a revised pension scheme. The move is likely to mount pressure on the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which is already grappling with the Maratha-OBC reservation row.

Government and semi-government employees in Maharashtra had gone on strike in December 2023 seeking restoration of the old pension scheme. (Praful Gangurde / HT Photo)

The government had last year appointed a committee under retired IAS officer Subodh Kumar following protests by government employees against the new pension scheme (NPS) and their demand for reinstatement of the old pension scheme (OPS). In March 2024, after the committee submitted its report, chief minister Eknath Shinde announced a revised NPS, which fixed the pension at 50% of the employee’s last drawn basic salary plus dearness allowance. But the notification regarding the revised pension scheme has not been issued in over five months, prompting the latest strike.

On Tuesday, the Maharashtra State Gazetted Officers Federation (MSGOF), a union of class 1 and class 2 government officers, gave a notice to the state government saying they would go on strike from August 29 over demands for notification of the revised NPS and other issues.

“CM Shinde had announced the revised NPS in March. Though almost six months have passed, the government has still not issued any notification. Federations of various state government employees have decided to go on an indefinite strike from August 29. We have also decided to join the strike,” said Vinod Desai, president, MSGOF.

Around 567,000 state government employees and 840,000 zilla parishad employees, including bureaucrats and teachers, will participate in the strike, taking the total number to of striking government and semi-government employees to over 1.4 million, Desai added.

GD Kulthe, founder and chief consultant with MSGOF, said the strike would continue till the government issued a notification for implementing the revised NPS.

“Our delegation had met the chief secretary in June and pointed out that the notification had not been issued. We were assured that it would be issued in one or two months. But it’s already the middle of August and the model code of conduct for the upcoming assembly elections is likely to come into force in another month or so. So, the government should immediately issue a notification regarding revised NPS,” he said.