Fatehgarh Sahib: Railway employees’ union protests for restoration of old pension

Fatehgarh Sahib, July,14

On the call of the All India Railway Men’s Federation and Northern Railway Men’s Union, the Northern Railway Men’s Union Sirhind Branch organised a rally at Sirhind Railway Station as a warning against the Central Government’s delay on the issue of old pension restoration. The Railways employees of Sirhind, Rajpura, Khanna, Doraha, Mandi Gobindgarh, Ropar, Nangal Dam, Amb and Andora participated in the rally. The meeting was presided over by Jagdeep Singh, branch secretary of Northern Railway Men’s Union Sirhind Branch and Sanjeev Kumar Verma, branch president.

Addressing the rally, Jagdeep Singh said that the Centre had not been paying attention to the demands of the employees for a long time and was continuously delaying the restoration of the old pension. He said that the struggle for the restoration is being organised across the country. He added that the employees who had joined any institution after January 1, 2004, have been deprived of the pension.

He said the pension was a support for the old age. “If today’s youth will not get a pension on retirement then how would they survive after retirement. The the All India Railway Men’s Federation has been struggling for a long time for the restoration of the old pensions and today, gate meetings are being organised all over India to that end,” he added. He said that if the Union Government did not resolve the issue of the old pension, the struggle would be intensified.

Sanjeev Verma said that the youth need to come together and struggle on the issue of old pensions because this issue is connected with their future. He appealed to the youth to take the issue seriously and also make people aware of it. Sumit Kumar, Bhupinder Singh Gurdeep Singh, Uttam Gupta, Madam Seema and hundreds of Railways employees were also present on the occasion.