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Andhra staff call rally amid police warning
Krishna district superintendent of police Palle Joshua said there was no permission for any processions, demonstrations and public meetings by the employees’ unions demanding the abolition of the Contributory Pension Scheme
Amid warning of strict action from the state police department, over 600,000 employees of the Andhra Pradesh government are planning to storm Vijayawada and lay siege to the residence of chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on September 1 demanding the abolition of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and restoration of the old pension scheme, employees’ union said on Monday.
For the last couple of days, the police department has been issuing notices to the employees, warning them against taking part in the proposed “Chalo Vijayawada” rally on September 1.
“The police have served bind-over notices on the union leaders who have given the call for the protests,” Andhra Pradesh Employees’ Joint Action Committee (JAC) leader K Ramesh Kumar said in a statement on Monday.
“When we are only asking for what was promised to us, why is the government resorting to oppressive measures like arrests, binding over the union leaders and putting up check posts at Vijayawada borders?” he added.
The ruling YSR Congress party, in its 2019 assembly elections manifesto, promised the abolition of the CPS and restoration of the old pension scheme.
Under the old pension scheme, there was no need for contribution by the employees. The government itself would pay certain amount equivalent to the last drawn basic pay of the employees, along with dearness allowance declared from time to time.
Krishna district superintendent of police (SP), Palle Joshua, said there was no permission for any processions, demonstrations and public meetings by the employees’ unions demanding the abolition of CPS.
“We have imposed restrictions under Section 30 of the Police Act, prohibiting any kind of such agitation programmes, since there is a possibility of several anti-social elements and political forces entering the scene and creating law and order problems,” the SP said.
He also warned those who provide logistics support and shelter to the protesters in Vijayawada, saying such persons would be dealt with as per the law for violating the act. “The employees who take part in the rally would be prosecuted under Andhra Pradesh Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1991,” he said.
State education minister Botsa Satyanarayana, who, along with finance minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, held several rounds of talks with the employees’ union leaders, said the abolition of CPS was done by the Central government in 2004 itself and the restoration of it would cause a huge burden on the state exchequer.
Satyanarayana said the state government had come up with an alternative solution by proposing the Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS), which would provide an employee with a pension of 33 per cent of the last drawn basic pay without any reduction. “The state government would contribute an equal amount of the amount contributed by the employee towards pension and pay him every month after retirement,” he said.
However, the employees’ union rejected the GPS model. “We want the CPS to be scrapped completely, and there is no question of going back on the demand,” Ramesh Kumar said.
