Last Update: 14 September 2022, 23:42 IST
As per the new scheme, employees contribute 10 per cent of their salary to pension while the state government contributes 14 per cent. (file photo/AFP)
The old pension scheme, under which the entire pension amount was given by the government, was discontinued in the country on 1 April 2004.
The Congress on Wednesday said it would implement the old pension scheme in Himachal Pradesh within 10 days if voted to power after the upcoming assembly elections. all India Congress Committee (AICC) member Sohan Lal Thakur said the implementation of the old pension scheme was on top priority among the 10 pre-poll guarantees announced recently by the party.
He said that this would benefit three lakh employees and their families. Also a senior vice president of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), Thakur further said that the National Pension Scheme (NPS) was implemented in the state in 2004 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the prime minister.
The Congress leader claimed that the Virbhadra Singh-led Congress government in the state had to implement NPS under pressure as none of the employees at that time had sought to continue with the old pension scheme. He said that now the employees have felt that NPS is not in their interest, so they are demanding restoration of the old scheme. Interestingly, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur had said last month that his government had taken up the matter of restoring the old pension scheme with the Centre. The CM had also said that the Congress government led by Virbhadra Singh had implemented the NPS in 2004 after the old scheme was withdrawn.
He said he believed that Singh had withdrawn the old plan after due consideration and that some sitting Congress MLAs were in his council of ministers at that time. The BJP leader had said that if the Congress was serious about restoring the old pension scheme, it would have done so when the Singh-led government came to power in 2012. Government employees under the banner of New Pension Scheme Employees Federation (NPSKM) have been agitating for months for the restoration of the old scheme in Himachal Pradesh.
The old pension scheme, under which the entire pension amount was given by the government, was discontinued in the country on 1 April 2004. As per the new scheme, employees contribute 10 per cent of their salary towards pension while the state government contributes 14. Percent.
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