Restore old pension scheme, demand Himachal power engineers

Shimla, July 17

The Himachal Power Engineers’ Association (HPEA) has sent a letter to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, demanding that the uniform Old Pension System be implemented for all power employees and engineers working in HP State Electricity Board Limited. HPEA president Lokesh Thakur has informed the Chief Minister that nowhere in the Electricity Act 2003 it is written that the old pension will not be given to the power employees recruited after the unbundling of the electricity board. “There is no uniformity in the different departments of the states. At some places OPS is applicable, at some places NPS is applicable,” Thakur wrote. The letter further says that the governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand have implemented the old pension system for all the employees and engineers working in energy corporations. The letter further said it had been learnt that the central government was going to make changes in the pension system for the central employees working under NPS.