Congress leaders walk out of House

BHOPAL: Dissatisfied with the state government’s reply on non-implementation of the old pension scheme, Congress on Wednesday staged a walkout in the state assembly. Speaking to reporters after the walkout, former chief minister Kamal Nath said, “We asked about the implementation of the old pension scheme and finance minister said there is no such proposal before the government.This is gross injustice for government employees who have been demanding that they be brought under the old pension scheme.”
Nath also claimed that if the Congress comes to power, old pension scheme will “definitely” be implemented. So far, governments of five states have informed the Union government that they have decided to revert to the old pension scheme. States include Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Punjab and Jharkhand. Under the old pension scheme, a retired employee gets a month pension till the end of their life. The pension is half the amount of the last salary drawn.
In the new pension scheme, employees are entitled to withdraw 60% of their invested amount after retirement. To get a monthly pension, the remaining 40% has to be invested in annuities. The issue was raised in the assembly on Wednesday during the question hour by former minister and senior Congress MLA Sajjan Singh Verma who asked finance minister Jagdish Dewra if the state government was considering reverting to old pension scheme.
In reply, the finance minister said that all state employees appointed from and after January 1, 2005 come under the new pension scheme while those before are under the old pension scheme. Upon being questioned repeatedly by the Congress, the finance minister said, “There is no such proposal at present for restoration of the old pension scheme under consideration before the state government”. He also said that state government will study necessary facts related to the matter and then take a decision.
Sajjan Singh Verma that lakhs of employees and their organisations have been demanding for the restoration of the old pension scheme for years. “But this insensitive government is not taking a decision on the matter,” Sajjan Singh Verma told the House. Verma claimed that five lakh state employees are agitating on the streets demanding the old pension scheme. “Have the employees’ unions and organisations contacted you on this issue? Have they submitted a memorandum with their demands?” the Congress MLA asked.
Congress alleged that ministers of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government are misleading state employees by telling them that the government is on the job of reverting to the old pension scheme whereas in the assembly, the reply is totally different.
LOP Dr Govind Singh asked, “In the supplementary budget that you are going to table today, will you make fund allocation for implementation of the old pension scheme? The government has Rs 300 crore for cheetahs, spends thousands of crores for Vikas Yatra and for seven lakh state government employees, the government has no money. Many state governments of opposition parties have decided to revert to the old pension scheme. The chief minister claims there is no dearth of funds, the treasury is full, then why this betrayal of government employees?”
Speaker Girish Gautam asked for next question but Congress started an uproar as they were not happy with the government’s reply. Dr Govind Singh told the Speaker, “This government is anti-employee. They are going to harm the state employees. The government is not implementing the old pension scheme and hence, the Congress party is walking out.”