When will OPS be implemented, Congress leader Partap Bajwa asks AAP government in Punjab

Chandigarh, November 29

Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa on Wednesday asked the AAP government about the time frame of the implementation of the old pension scheme, or OPS, for the state employees.

During the zero-hour on the concluding day of the two-day Punjab Vidhan Sabha session, Congress leader Bajwa pointed out that the Congress governments in Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan had already implemented the OPS.

Bajwa said the Bhagwant Mann government had announced the restoration of the OPS last year but it was yet to be done.

“When will the OPS be implemented?” Bajwa asked as he referred to his meeting with representatives of the government employees.

In November last year, the state cabinet approved the implementation of the OPS scheme, which had been discontinued in 2004.

Bajwa also raised the issue of the pending dearness allowance of the government employees and asked the state government when it would be disbursed. “12 per cent DA of employees is pending,” Bajwa said.

Independent MLA Rana Inder Pratap Singh took up the issue of stubble burning in Punjab and said that there was a requirement of 10,000 balers in the state for the management of 10 million tonnes of paddy straw.

At present, there are 2,500 balers in the state, said the MLA from Sultanpur Lodhi. He said a baler should be ensured in each village to prevent crop residue burning.

He said another 10 million tonnes of straw was being managed through in situ (mixing stubble in fields) method.

Akali MLA Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi raised the issue of a TV interview of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and said that eight months have passed, and it was not yet known where the interview took place.

Bishnoi is one of the accused in the 2022 singer Sidhu Moosewala murder case. In March this year, a private news channel ran two interviews of Bishnoi.

The Punjab Police had formed a special investigation team to probe the interviews of Bishnoi.