Efforts on to get Rs 10,000 crore NPS money from Centre: Sukhu

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today said that efforts were being made to get Rs 10,000 crore deposited under the new pension scheme (NPS) with the Central Government as the old pension scheme (OPS) had been restored in Himachal.

Sukhu, while intervening in the discussion on the Governor’s Address in the Vidhan Sabha, said that the state government had the right to get this money back from the Central Government. “This is the money of the employees, who have now switched over to the OPS from the NPS, so that money should be returned to the state,” he added.

The Chief Minister said that the manner in which Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur was speaking it appeared that the BJP, on coming to power, would revert to the NPS. “Our government has borne a liability of Rs 153 crore under the Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) given to fruit growers, which was pending from the tenure of the previous BJP government,” he added.

On the issue of rising drug addiction raised by the Leader of the Opposition, Sukhu said that it was due to a crackdown against the drug mafia that there had been a reduction of 30 per cent in addiction cases in Himachal. “My government has launched a concerted campaign against drugs to make Himachal drug free in the coming years,” he added.

Sukhu refuted the BJP’s allegation that temple money was being used for welfare schemes. “Deputy Commissioners have been asked to foot bills like the payment of admission fees of students, which has a deadline, only to be reimbursed by the government later,” he added.