Old pension scheme dominated Himachal Budget session

Pratibha Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 16

The Congress had tried to corner the government on various fronts during the 16-day Budget session of the Vidhan Sabha, but it were issues concerning the employees which dominated the entire session with one or the other section of employees staging a protest outside the Assembly.

As compared to the previous sessions, this time there were less disruptions and the Congress chose to hit out at the Jai Ram Thakur Government by way of debate rather than staging repeated walkouts. During the session, five Bills were passed by the house after having detailed discussions and a total of 979 questions posed by MLAs were taken up.

Rising discontent

• The most talked about issue during the session was the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme.
• The Chief Minister tried to pacify agitating employees, but the issue seems to be getting out of hand as angry protests were held outside the Vidhan Sabha.

The most talked about issue, both inside and outside the Vidhan Sabha, remained the restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS) for employees. While the Chief Minister tried to pacify the agitating employees covered under the New Pension Scheme (NPS) by constituting a committee headed by the Chief Secretary, the issue seems to be getting out of hand which was evident from the angry protest outside the Vidhan Sabha by the employees from across the state.

The Congress, on the other hand, tried to capitalize on the employees sentiment of restoration of OPS by promising to do so on being returned to power in the Assembly elections. Notwithstanding the fact that the OPS was withdrawn by Virbahdra Singh while in power, the Congress did not hesitate to promise the NPS employees that their demand would be fulfilled. As a glimmer of hope for the employees, the Congress said its governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh had announced restoration of OPS.

Faced with severe financial constraints, the state government is in no position to bear the additional burden of almost Rs 600 crore to Rs 700 crore per annum on account of the OPS.

The issue of formulation of a policy for outsourced employees also echoed in the Vidhan Sabha. Legislators drew the attention of the government towards the exploitation of the outsourced employees by contractors.