Farmers Movement Archive

Will restore old pension scheme for govt employees if voted to power: AAP

Leader of opposition in Punjab assembly Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will restore the old pension scheme for government employees if voted to power in the assembly elections early next year. Joining the state-level protest of government employees and pensioners, Cheema said their demand for the restoration of the old pension scheme will be included in the AAP’s poll manifesto. “It is the right of an employee to get pension on retirement. It is not charity. The Congress government should immediately restore the old scheme,” Cheema said.Ajay Dutt, AAP legislator from Delhi who accompanied Cheema in support of the employees’ demands, said the Arvind Kejriwal-led government in the national capital was the first in the country to restore the old pension scheme.The AAP leaders said the Congress government in Punjab has robbed lakhs of employees of their right to pension by implementing anti-employee recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission and stripped them of their jobs in the name of departmental restructuring.The protest also got support from farm union leaders, who got miffed with the organisers for inviting representatives of political parties.Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) state president Joginder Singh Ugrahan left the stage when the AAP leaders joining the protest. “We can’t share stage with political parties. They should only support to protest from outside in the future,” he said.According to the new pension scheme, the government employees recruited after 2004 are not entitled for pension after retirement.

Hindustan Times

25-08-2021

Chandigarh