Deepender Hooda calls UPS 'anti-employee scheme'

Chandigarh, August 28

Terming the Centre's Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) as "anti-employee," Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda said his party would come to power in Haryana after the October 1 Assembly elections and implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in the state.

"And the UPS is a bigger fraud with government employees than the New Pension Scheme (NPS)," Hooda said in Jhajjar on Tuesday.

Deepender said this at an event where wrestler Aman Sehrawat, who won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, was being felicitated in Birohad village.

The Union Cabinet approved the UPS on August 24, announcing an assured pension of 50 per cent of the basic salary for those who joined government services after January 1, 2004. Employees opting for the UPS would be eligible to get an assured pension after a service of 25 years.

Hooda claimed Congress would form government in Haryana after the Assembly polls and fulfil government employees' demand for the implementation of the OPS.

"A limit of 25 years of service has been fixed for full pension in the UPS. The biggest loss will be for paramilitary forces' personnel. Those who retire before completing 25 years of service (VRS) will have to bear heavy losses. In such a situation, they will get only a meagre pension of Rs 10,000," a statement quoted Hooda.

The Congress MP further said that when the NPS was implemented, it was said to be better than the OPS and now the UPS is being promoted in a similar manner.

"The truth is that employees will not even receive 10 per cent of their contribution under the UPS. They will only get half of their basic salary as pension after removing dearness allowance (DA). But in five years, the share of DA usually becomes equal to or more than the basic salary. So, pension under the UPS will be halved," Hooda said.

He said employees across the country and the state had been demanding the implementation of the OPS.

Under the OPS, effective before January 2004, employees got 50 per cent of their last drawn basic pay as pension.

Unlike the OPS, the UPS was contributory in nature. Under the UPS, employees will be required to contribute 10 per cent of their basic salary and DA while the employer's contribution will be 18.5 per cent. PTI