Himachal employees protest at Dharamsala demanding the old pension scheme

Government employees who are covered by the New Pension Scheme (NPS)staged a demonstration at Dharamsala, demanding that the old statutory pension programme be reinstated. Hundreds of employees gathered at the Dari ground to demonstrate their power and demand that the old pension scheme is implemented.

The police did not allow demonstrators to go beyond the Dari ground, which is about 6 kilometres from the Assembly complex, as a result of the Swaran Morcha demonstration yesterday, which caused the administration embarrassment. To prevent them from approaching the compound, a strong police force was deployed.

Employee union leaders claimed that the new pension scheme did not provide security to government employees who retire after decades of service. Employees who are set to retire under the new pension scheme would be given a pittance, compared to their predecessors' generous pensions.

The new pension programme went into effect in 2004. Employees are paid a pension based on their contribution to the provident fund, which is only a few thousand rupees, as opposed to the old pension programme, which paid them based on their final pay drawn.

In Himachal, the new pension programme covers approximately 90,000 government employees. The government has said that the old pension scheme can no longer be implemented because it has been phased out by the federal government and other states. The state government, according to the administration, would face a financial burden of Rs 2,000 crore if the old pension scheme was implemented.