State employees’ federation hails PWD Minister Vikramaditya’s statement on UPS implementation

Himachal Pradesh Employees’ Federation (Vinod faction) has welcomed the recent statement of PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh for exploring the possibility of implementation of the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) of the Central Government in the state.

In a statement, acting president of the federation Gobind Singh and general secretary Vinod Kumar said here today that before closing the NPS in Himachal, the federation had written to the state government on December 24, 2022 — when the government was preparing to close NPS. It stated that the financial condition of the state was already week and it would further deteriorate if the state kept itself separated from the Central Government’s UPS.

They said that the federation had also suggested other options, keeping in view the poor financial health of the state. “Himachal Pradesh is the first state which has closed NPS altogether, whereas some states have issued administrative orders for implementing pension rules-1972 but contribution of the NPS was not closed,” they claimed. The federation leaders said that financial benefits on retirement under NPS such as leave encashment and gratuity were available but the scheme discriminated in monthly pension calculation.

The federation claimed that under the UPS, the Central Government had now made the provision of determining pension, which was a minimum qualifying service pension rule-1972 and now the ball was in the court of the state government. He underlined the need to review UPS and consider its implementation in the state so that financial restrictions imposed by the Central Government could be removed in larger interests of the state. “The state government owes pending dues amounting to Rs 10,000 crore to the employees. A state like Himachal Pradesh cannot afford financial restrictions of the Central Government and it should simplify the financial crisis and not make it more complicated under the pressure of a particular group of government employees,” they pleaded.

Hailing the decision of the CM to keep the workforce of the IAS, IPS and IFS low in the state, the federation leaders have also appealed to the state government to rationalise bureaucrats’ force in the government departments, boards and corporations. He also suggested the state government to constitute a Joint Consultative Committee of employees’ unions active in the state rather than giving recognition to a particular employees’ faction as it would facilitate the government in addressing issues of the government employees.