Bring back old pension scheme, demand employees, pensioners

Several thousands of employees and pensioners of both the Union government and State governments protested here at the Ramlila Maidan on Friday and demanded the Centre to bring back the old pension scheme (OPS) immediately. They threatened an indefinite strike if the demand is not met. This was fourth such rally at the capital in the recent months on the issue of reinstating the OPS.

The Congress and other Opposition parties have promised that they will restore the OPS in States and at the Centre if voted back to power. Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh governments had announced that they will scrap the national pension scheme and will go back to the OPS.

The employees affiliated with the Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, All India State Government Employees Federation, School Teachers Federation of India and National Coordination Committee of Pensioners Associations participated in the rally. It was inaugurated by CITU general secretary Tapan Sen.

Federation’s working president Tapas Bose told The Hindu that the rally was a warning to the Centre. “If the OPS is not reinstated, we will be forced to go for an indefinite strike. We will initiate industrial strike procedures soon if the Centre continues to ignore our demand,” Mr. Bose said. Stopping contractualisation of jobs, filling of more than 60 lakh government and PSU vacancies, clearing DA arrears, protecting trade union rights and scrapping the national education policy were the other demands of the employees and pensioners.