OPS comes to haunt AAP: ‘If Himachal can restore, what’s preventing Punjab,’ ask NPS employees

The employees and pensioners are annoyed with the AAP for so far not fulfilling its pre-election promise of restoring the Old Pension Scheme

Ahead of the byelections for four Assembly seats in Punjab, the issue of restoring the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) is back to haunt the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), even as several State government employees and pensioners who have been demanding restoration of the OPS observed ‘November 18’ as a ‘black day’ to mark their protest against the government.

The employees and pensioners are annoyed with the AAP for so far not fulfilling its pre-election promise of restoring the OPS while in the neighbouring State of Himachal Pradesh, the Congress government kept its promise and implemented the OPS soon after forming the government in 2022. 

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On November 18, 2022, the AAP government in Punjab issued a notification regarding the restoration of OPS, in which it was stated that all the government employees who are presently being covered under the Defined Contributory Pension Scheme also referred to as the National Pension System (NPS) will be given the benefits of the OPS. The notification added that the detailed scheme and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) pursuant to the notification shall be notified by the State government in due course of time. Later, in January 2023, the government constituted a committee to formulate the SOPs for implementing the OPS, but even two years down the line, the OPS implementation is yet to see the light of the day.

On Monday, hundreds of government employees and pensioners, who fall under the NPS wore black badges and burned the dummy copies of OPS notification issued by the Punjab government. “The employees and pensioners staged protests across the State against the AAP government over its failure to implement the OPS. It’s been two years since the government announced to restore the OPS, but we are still waiting for its implementation. How much time do they need to issue the SOPs? In neighbouring Himachal, the Congress government immediately after coming power, implemented the OPS in 2022, if Himachal can do that what’s preventing the AAP government in Punjab from restoring the OPS?” Jasvir Singh Talwara, State convener of the joint employee-pensioners front - Purani Pension Bahali Sangarsh Committee, told The Hindu.

Meanwhile, with the byelections, slated for November 20, the NPS - employees and pensioners are travelling across the constituencies in support of their demand to restore the OPS, and mobilising people not to support the AAP. “We are going to the constituencies and urging people to support those political parties that are going to fulfil our demand of restoring the OPS. We are disappointed with the AAP and have decided to oppose them in the upcoming byelections,” Mr. Singh added. 

The OPS was abolished by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre in December 2003 and the NPS came into force on April 1, 2004. Under the OPS, the entire pension amount is given by the government whereas the NPS is a participatory scheme where employees contribute to pension corpus from their salaries, with matching contributions from the government, and is market-linked.

AAP leader and senior spokesperson Neel Garg said, “The AAP government is committed to implementing the OPS. There’s a big financial implication for the OPS and a huge amount (around ₹18,000 crore) is with the Central government’s Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), and the Centre is not refunding it, which is a big hurdle. We are making efforts to get that amount so that we can bring the employees under OPS.”

The byelections in Punjab are slated for November 20 for Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal, and Barnala Assembly constituencies. The byelections in these constituencies were necessitated after the seats fell vacant following their representatives (MLAs) being elected to the Lok Sabha. The AAP, the Congress, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are facing each other in the electoral battle. The Shiromani Akali Dal had announced to not contest the by election.

Published - November 18, 2024 06:39 pm IST