Implement old pension scheme in Telangana: NOPRUF

Hyderabad: With an aim to mount pressure on the State government for retrospective implementation of the old pension scheme for the employees, a rally was organized by BP Singh Rawat, national president of National Old Pension Restoration United Front (NOPRUF) in Hyderabad on Monday morning.

Telangana employees led by the regional president of Telangana Employees Association (TEA) Sampat Kumar Swami gave a rousing welcome to BP Singh Rawat at Telangana Martyrs Memorial near Assembly.

In order to put pressure on the State government to implement the old pension scheme, a rally was held by BP Singh Rawat from Lal Chowk in Kashmir on October 9 which will end on October 19 at Vivekananda Statue in Tamil Nadu.

Speaking on the occasion, BP Singh Rawat said that the employees were deprived of a pension scheme since 2004 despite rendering services for the government. During these 18 years of time, numerous employees either retired or passed away while serving duty sans any post services or benefits from the government.

He said that it is taking a heavy toll on the families of employees despite serving for several decades while MPs and MLAs are getting eligible for the pension scheme simply after five years.

"Though the Central and State governments are implementing the Contributory Pension Scheme – being introduced in the year 2004 wherein 10 percent of the employee's salary is being deducted from basic pay, there is no clarity whether or not the government is also remitting the equal share contribution every month. Several employees and families are still waiting to get the benefits under the scheme," he argued.

"While the servicemen are getting pension at least under One Nation One Pension scheme, the MPs and MLAs are privileged with the same in a short term. The only deprived section of public servants are the government employees who are struggling to get post-service benefits for the last 18 years," contended Rawat.

Reminding that the Jharkhand government has already begun implementing the old pension scheme and Odisha and Rajasthan are also willing to implement the same soon, he said "whichever party comes to support us, the front will also reciprocate them with similar support and extend full cooperation.

Apart from General Secretary Telangana Employees Association (TEA) Dr. Nirmala, employees such as K Shamsundar, S Srinivasulu, I Vishal, B Vishvanath Prasad, K Mohan Babu, V Srinivasulu and others were present on the occasion.