Panchkula OPS protests: Thousands of government employees protested near Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's residence in Panchkula on Sunday demanding the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme in the state. This resulted in police resorting to firing tear gas shells to disperse protesting Haryana govt employees.
The protestors alleged that the Bhartiya Janata Party has been ignoring the demands of the state government employees. "Around 70,000 employees have gathered today to protest. In Rajasthan, the Old Pension Scheme has been implemented. This Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) government does not talk to the employees. We will continue our peaceful protest," a spokesperson of the Pension Bahali Sangharsh Samiti, Praveen Deshwal claimed.
Earlier, the governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand informed the central government and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) about their decision to restart the OPS for their employees. The government of Punjab on November 18, 2022, too had issued a notification regarding the implementation of the OPS for the state government employees who are presently being covered under the NPS.
RBI cautions states against reverting to old pension scheme
Last month, the Reserve Bank sounded a note of caution on reversion to the old pension scheme by some states, saying it poses a major risk on the “subnational fiscal horizon” and would result in the accumulation of unfunded liabilities in the coming years for them. The observations in the RBI’s Report titled ‘State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2022-23′ comes in the backdrop of Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh becoming the latest state to announce reverting to the Dearness Allowance (DA) linked Old Pension Scheme (OPS).
(With inputs from agencies)
