10 yrs on, HRTC pensioners not yet paid Rs 600 cr arrears

Sameer Singh

Shimla, December 19

The Congress government has not paid the post-retirement benefits of HRTC pensioners that have been mounting with each passing year. As per the records of the state Transport Department, the pending dues on account of arrears and post-retirement benefits of over 5,000 pensioners of the HRTC stand at Rs 600 crore.

Successive governments have not paid the outstanding dues of the HRTC retirees for over 10 years. The pensioners have been bearing the brunt of “bureaucratic apathy” and the mounting financial debt. They have now threatened to stage a protest during the winter session of the Vidhan Sabha in Dharamsala on December 21. “Whenever the demand for clearing the pending dues of HRTC pensioners is raised, Transport Department officials always cite a financial crunch as an excuse for the delay in payment,” says Rajender Thakur, legal adviser of the HP Road Transport Pensioners Welfare Association.

He says, “We have not even received arrears (pension) of increased pay 2016 onwards. Despite government orders issued in 2022, we started getting the hiked pension after eight months from March this year. The pending pension arrears (including revised pay), DA, leave encashment, gratuity and medical reimbursement among other increased benefits stand at Rs 600 crore now.”

RD Nazeem, Principal Secretary, State Transport Department, says, “With the current financial health of the state government and the department, we are finding it difficult to pay salaries and pension on time. But we have now managed to make payments on the first of every month.”

“The liability is huge and we are trying our best to clear the outstanding payments. We are also trying to generate extra revenue with new measures so that these liabilities can be met,” says Nazeem.

Krishan Chauhan, chairman of the union, says, “Leave aside retirement benefits, we have not been paid pension on time. We have requested the government to find a permanent solution to the problem. Despite serving the department for their whole life, the pensioners have been deprived of their hard-earned financial benefits.”

The pensioners have also urged the government that, as per the rules the benefit of the increased pension at the age of 65 (5 per cent hike), 70 years (10 per cent) and 75 years (15 per cent) is given but they have not received the increased pension. They rue that their medical reimbursement bills are pending for the past one and a half year.

Leaders of the pensioners’ union say that like previous governments, the present Congress government has also failed to fulfil their long-pending demands. They threatened to stage a protest during the winter session of the Vidhan Sabha in Dharamsala on December 21. They also demanded that FIRs registered against 10 of the union members during an agitation in 2022 must be cancelled.