Unified Pension Scheme: Rly staff seek change in service period norm

Tribune News Service

Rohtak, August 31

All India Railwaymen Federation (ARIF) general secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra, while hailing the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), the latest pension scheme for government employees, has said they would continue the struggle until the service period of an employee is reduced from 25 years to 20 years to facilitate 50 per cent pension of the last drawn salary under the UPS.

Struggle against NPS began in 2003

We had started our struggle against the NPS in 2003 and succeeded to a large extent on August 24 when a delegation of Joint Consultative Machinery, a consultative body between Union Government and Centre, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the pension issue and he assured us of introducing UPS with a provision of 50 per cent pension of the last drawn salary.  — Shiv Gopal Mishra, general secy, All India Railwaymen Federation

“Initially, the Central Government intended to fix a pension (half of the last drawn salary) under the UPS for the employees with 35 years of service but we raised strong objection to it and managed to persuade the government to reduce it up to 25 years, but we want 20 years of service period for the fixed pension under the UPS, hence we will continue to mount pressure on the government to meet our demand,” said Mishra, while interacting with the media here on Saturday.

On being asked his view on the demand of the Haryana employees to restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), Mishra said they too were in favour of replacing the New Pension Scheme (NPS) with the OPS, but had finally managed to get 90 per cent benefits provided in the OPS included in the UPS after a struggle of over two decades. He said their struggle would continue to get the remaining 10 per cent benefits as well but persuading the Central Government to adopt the UPS was also not an easy task.

“We had started our struggle against the NPS in 2003 and succeeded to a large extent on August 24 when a delegation of Joint Consultative Machinery, a consultative body between Union Government and Centre, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the pension issue and he assured of introducing UPS with a provision of 50 per cent pension of last drawn salary,” Misha claimed.

Enumerating other demands, he stated that rail employees had eagerly been waiting for the formation of a new pay commission for revision of their pay as the previous pay commission was set up around 9 years ago.

“Other main demands include deposition of 18 percent DA, which was withheld during Covid time, in the employees’ account, 10 per cent posts of direct recruitment be filled through Limited Departmental Competitive Examination (LDCE) and timely promotion of trackmen and other employees,” he added.

Mishra accompanied by other Rail employees’ leaders- Anoop Sharma, Mukesh Sharma and Surendra Saini- later addressed a divisional level sammelan of the rail employees organised on the railway station campus here.