Narendra Modi with Union Ministers, Chief Ministers during the NITI Aayog meeting
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday urged the Union government to issue directions to the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to return the amount of ₹9,242.60 crore deposited under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) by the State government.
Participating at the eighth governing council meeting of “Niti Aayog” in New Delhi, Mr. Sukhu asked the Centre not to reduce the previous year’s deposit of ₹1,779 crore under the NPS than the borrowing ceiling of the current financial year i.e. 2023-24.
The Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government, after coming to power decided to implementation of the Old Pension Scheme for government employees, who were covered under the National Pension System (NPS), and hence the state government has been demanding the PFRDA to return the NPS amount.
Listen to: The Hindu Parley Podcast | Should States revert to the Old Pension Scheme?
Mr. Sukhu said the State government has taken initiatives on developing Himachal Pradesh as a ‘Green Energy State’ and added that tourism development was being undertaken in the backdrop of ‘Green Himachal’ in order to protect and preserve the State’s fragile environment. “Efforts are afoot for reducing carbon footprints and most of the diesel buses of HRTC will be replaced with e-buses in coming years. An elaborate plan is being made for promoting Green Hydrogen. A Rs. 2000 crore World Bank-aided project ‘Himachal Pradesh Power Sector Development Programme’ will be launched soon after holding the final round of discussions with World Bank, he added. Efforts are being set in place to attract an investment of about rs 20,000 crore during the current financial year in various sectors,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s not attending the ‘Niti Aayog’ meeting, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) hit out at Mr. Mann, accusing him of “putting the political interests of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal over that of those of Punjabis.”
SAD spokesman Charanjit Singh Brar said the Punjab government has lost a chance to deliberate on key issues like education, health, skill development and infrastructure development by not attending the meeting. The AAP government claims these issues are the cornerstone of its governance model but it has chosen to not attend a meeting which was going to discuss them threadbare, he added.
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal said that the State government has been successfully implementing central initiatives in the State for the last eight-and-a-half years and is assuring the welfare of all sections by introducing new schemes.