Demand for restoring OPS spreads across state

From Kolhapur to Vidarbha, rallies are being taken out demanding that the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS)

Mumbai: From Kolhapur to Vidarbha, rallies are being taken out demanding that the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

Demand for restoring OPS spreads across state

On Sunday, Maharashtra Rajya Castribe Karmachari Kalyan Mahasangh (MRCKKM), set out on a march from Nagpur to Mumbai seeking OPS restoration. The rally will pass through over 20 districts before reaching the financial capital of the country on March 14. They will hold a protest outside Vidhan Bhavan, where the state budget session is in progress.

At the same time, several state government employees’ unions have threatened to go on a state-wide indefinite strike from March 14 if no such announcement was made by the government in the budget for 2023-24. As per rough estimates, around 15 lakh government employees and 6 lakh pensioners want OPS to be implemented and are preparing to pressurise the state government.

Sensing the growing unhappiness among the government employees, Congress has extended active support to the demand. Congress leaders are participating in protests at various places in the state.

On Saturday, a rally was organised by Congress leader Satej Patil in Kolhapur to press the demand. Sudhakar Adbale, the newly-elected Congress legislator from Nagpur Teachers’ Constituency, also attended the rally that left from Nagpur to Mumbai on Sunday.

Arun Gade, MRCKKM president, said, “If MLAs and MPs are getting pension then why not employees, who are serving the state for over 30 years?” “Lakhs of employees are expected to participate in the protest at Vidhan Bhavan,” he added.

Adbale said, “If other states can implement the OPS, then Maharashtra can also do it. The annoyance of the employees is clearly visible as the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition won four seats in council elections and Kasba Peth in the by-polls.”

Meanwhile, announcing the indefinite strike from March 14, Vishwas Katkar, general secretary, Rajya Sarkari Karmachari Madhyavarti Sanghatana and convenor of the coordination committee of various other unions, last week said they have formed a coordination committee comprising representatives of more than 60 organisations.

Earlier, chief minister Eknath Shinde had announced a high-level committee to study the possibility of relaunching the OPS last month. During the legislative council polls in January, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis too said they were considering the OPS after saying in December that returning to the old pension scheme would burden the exchequer with a sum of ₹1.10 lakh crore and could lead the state to bankruptcy.

On Friday, Fadnavis, who is also the finance minister, said that the government was positive about the scheme but the leaders are expected to think about the future as well. He told the legislative council that they can win the upcoming election by making the popular announcement but problems will arise from 2028 and by 2032, it will go out of hand as around 2.5 lakh employees are going to be retired in 2028, which will increase expenditure beyond control.

“We are spending 58% of the state budget on the establishment cost and it is rising every year. It is expected to touch 68% by next year,” he revealed. He also added that they want to make the scheme financially viable and thus he will spend an entire day discussing the alternatives soon after the budget session.

On the other hand, political analyst Hemant Desai said the government is caught in a trap by saying that they are ready to consider the demand. “Congress got benefits by making OPS a poll promise in Himachal Pradesh elections. Their leaders promised the same during the campaign for recently held council elections in the state. Chief minister and deputy chief minister too declared considering relaunching the scheme under the impression that they will get benefits in the council elections and now they are in a catch-22 situation,” Desai opined.

The state government had discontinued the OPS on November 1, 2005. The Vilasrao Deshmukh-led government took the bold move and stopped the OPS. The state then had a debt of around ₹1.10 lakh crore. By the financial year 2022-2023, the debt stock of the state increased to ₹6.50 lakh crore, up from ₹4.51 lakh crore in the financial year 2019-20.