Will implement old pension scheme if voted to power in Karnataka: AAP

Bengaluru:

The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday announced that if the party is voted to power in Karnataka, it will revive the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), for which NPS employees of the state government went on an indefinite strike.

AAP vice-president Bhaskar Rao, who accompanied party leaders to Freedom Park to extend his support to the protesters demanding OPS, announced that if AAP comes to power in the state, the party will be voted to power in the state. NPS will be abolished immediately.

Speaking on the protest, Bhaskar Rao said, ‘During the Punjab elections, the Aam Aadmi Party had promised to implement OPS if voted to power. Accordingly, the cabinet there approved the implementation of OPS in November and the government issued a gazette notification. In Gujarat too, AAP had given a guarantee to implement OPS but the party did not come to power there. If we come to power in Karnataka, we are committed to implement OPS. We will mention this clearly in the election manifesto and election manifesto. Guarantee card which will be issued to the people. You are always committed to protect the interests of government employees,” he said.

AAP leader Brijesh Kalappa alleged that the needs of the common man do not matter to the Center and the present state government and only capitalist businessmen are important to them.

“Only capitalist businessmen are important to the BJP governments at the center and state. The needs of everyone including the common man, employees, laborers, farmers, small businessmen do not matter to the BJP government. People from different walks of life have protested for so long have been protesting since and now government employees are out on the streets.If BJP leaders have even an iota of concern for government employees, then let them scrap NPS and implement OPS at the earliest.

AAP’s labor wing state president Ravi Shankar claimed that scrapping the NPS and implementing the OPS “will not put much financial burden” on the government.

“Employees who joined government service after 2006 are feeling insecure because of NPS. They are worried about life after retirement. Abolishing NPS and implementing OPS will not put much financial burden on the government. NPS The trust’s contribution is more than Rs 16,000 crore. And if OPS is implemented, the contribution will be avoided. When NPS is scrapped, the money received along with interest can be used for development works of the government.

Assembly elections are due in Karnataka next year.

The Punjab cabinet has approved the restoration of the old pension scheme.

Faced with several demands of government employees, the Punjab government has decided to restore the old pension scheme.

Earlier, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand also withdrew the old pension scheme and abolished the new pension scheme.

Under the old pension scheme, a government employee is entitled to a monthly pension after retirement. The monthly pension is generally half of the last drawn pay of the individual.

Under the new pension scheme, employees deposit a part of their salary in a pension fund. Based on this, they are entitled to get a lump sum amount on superannuation.

For the record, the old pension scheme was discontinued in December 2003 and the new pension scheme came into force on April 1, 2004.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)