NPS employees express solidarity with Sukhvinder Sukhu govt after Rajya Sabha poll fiasco
Mandi, March 1
The New Pension Scheme (NPS) Employees Association has expressed its solidarity with the state government and Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu in the wake of the recent political developments in state, wherein six of the elected Congress MLAs voted for BJP’s Rajya Sabha candidate Harsh Mahajan in the state assembly, thereby putting the government in jeopardy.
Addressing mediapersons here today, state president of the association, Pradeep Thakur, said: “We will stand with the state government and CM Sukhu in every situation. He restored the old pension scheme to government employees of the state to provide them financial security in old age after retirement.”
‘Sukhu was bold enough to restore OPS’
- “We will stand with the state government and CM Sukhu in every situation. He restored the old pension scheme to government employees of the state to provide them financial security in old age after retirement,” New Pension Scheme (NPS) Employees Association president Pradeep Thakur said.
- He added that the restoration of old pension was a huge issue in the state, which required a tough decision and the Chief Minister was bold enough to take it, restoring OPS for 1.36 lakh employees.
He added that the restoration of the old pension was a huge issue in the state, which required a tough decision and the Chief Minister was bold enough to take it, restoring OPS for 1.36 lakh employees.
Thakur said after the restoration of the OPS, Rs 9,000 crore of the state government and employees was pending with the Centre. This money should be returned to the state government, he said, adding that their association has recently sent memoranda from every district to the Prime Minister for the same. However, there has been no reply from the Centre so far, Thakur said.
He added that if the Centre did not return the money, the state’s employees would have to initiate a bigger movement to demand their due.
Thakur also expressed gratitude towards Sukhu for the announcements made in the Budget, which included increases in employees’ arrears, DA etc. He said to thank the state government for the restoration of old pension, the association would run a “Thanks for OPS” campaign at the state level.
At the press meet, retired employee Kanhaiya Lal Saini and pensioner Chint Ram Shastri, who was the first to receive the OPS after its restoration in Himachal, were also present, and both were unanimous in their remarks that the state government had “restored their honour” and “secured them financially”, for which they would always be indebted to CM Sukhu and his colleagues.
“The state government wants to give OPS restoration a legal protection by passing a law on it in the state assembly. This is a commendable initiative of the government,” Shastri said.
On this occasion, association’s state secretary Naseeb Singh, Sadar block president Rajneesh Thakur, Padhar block president Kashmir Singh and others were also present.
