HRTC pensioners issue ultimatum, warn of protests during Lok Sabha poll

Dipender Manta

Mandi, April 25

Pensioners of the Himachal Road Transport Corporation have accused the state government and the HRTC management of withholding all their benefits and allowances.

They warned that if the management and the government do not pay all their pending payments between May 1 and May 31, 2024, then they would protest against the government in the Lok Sabha elections. The pensioners and their families will either press NOTA button or vote against the government. There are around 8,500 pensioners of the HRTC in the state.

They held a meeting in the Vishwakarma Temple complex of Mandi under the chairmanship of state executive president of the Pensioners Association Brij Lal Thakur yesterday.

Speakers in the meeting said all their pension-related payments after January 1, 2016, are pending.

“The government went to the High Court and the Supreme Court after spending lakhs of rupees against the 8,500 retired pensioners of the HRTC, where it had faced defeat. Despite this, the government has not paid their pending payments,” an official said.