Org seeks old pension scheme

ITANAGAR, 24 Feb: The National Movement for Old Pension Scheme Arunachal Pradesh (NMOPSAP) on Friday said that it has once again written to the deputy chief minister, requesting him to consider implementing the old pension scheme in the state, in consultation with ministers and MLAs.

Speaking on behalf of 26,735 state government employees, the NMOPSAP said that “the new pension scheme has broken the social, moral and financial backbone of the retired employees, who have provided more than 30 years of services to the state and the nation.”

It said that the new pension scheme (NEP) “is unable to meet the lowest necessity of a social standard of living of a senior citizen,” and added that the West Bengal government has not implemented the NEP, “considering the black and bad side of the NEP.”

“In the recent past, some states, like Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh, have replaced this provision and restored the old pension scheme in their states,” it said.

“Further,” it said, “the 47 family members of retired as well as 144 dead employees of our state are reeling under unimaginable economic conditions due to non-processing of files for death gratuity and other miscellaneous benefits that employees are entitled to.”

“Such condition should not be there in a welfare state,” it added.