Seeking old pension scheme, govt staff take out march in Ambala

Ambala, August 25

Seeking the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), a large number of government employees of seven districts, under the banner of Pension Bahali Sangharsh Samiti, took out ‘OPS Sankalp Tiranga March’ in Ambala on Sunday.

The employees have been demanding the restoration of OPS and said that they would run vote for the OPS campaign in the Assembly elections. Government employees from Ambala, Panchkula, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal and Panipat gathered at the New Grain Market and then took out a march in the city.

The employees said that the elected representatives, MLAs and MPs, take pensions as per their number of tenures, but the same pension is being denied to the employees who put more than 25 to 30 years of service. If the government does not implement OPS, the employees will utilise the power of voting and oust the current party from power.

Vijender Dhariwal, state president of the Samiti, said, “Pension Bahali Sangarsh Samiti (PBSS) is demanding the restoration of pension for government employees and social security for their families. The samiti is seeking restoration of old pension scheme (OPS) only and not a unified pension scheme (UPS) or amendment to the new pension scheme (NPS).”

He said, “The employees have been demanding restoration of the OPS, we never demanded any amendment to the NPS. We reject the unified pension scheme (UPS). A sense of resentment is brewing among the employees and the samiti will continue to struggle till the demand is met. In the Lok Sabha elections, the employees have voted for the OPS and it bore fruitful results and it has been decided to run the same campaign in the Assembly elections too. The employees and their family members will vote for the party that announces restoration of the OPS in Haryana in its first Cabinet meeting.”

Dhariwal called upon the government employees to stay united and stick to the association’s decisions during the elections so that the demand could be met. The next meeting will be held in Hisar on September 1 and then in Rohtak on September 8, where the final call regarding the Assembly elections will be given by the association.

Ramesh Dhiman, samiti’s Ambala district president, said employees of different departments participated in the meeting.