Shimla: Cries for reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in poll-bound Himachal Pradesh have risen to be a major wind-turner in recent days, as members of a United Front demanding the resurgence of the old system have started campaigning soon after the Model Code of Conduct being imposed in the state.
The MCC came into effect in the hill state on Friday simultaneously with the announcement of the day of polling, November 12. Effectively using the following period to amplify their voices, the chief of the National Old Pension Restoration United Front, LD Chouhan, said on Sunday that the group would do everything in its power to attract the newly elected government's notice, regardless of its political affiliation, to solve the issue.
"We initiated the demand back in 2015. This demand is not exclusively from Himachal Pradesh government employees, but from state government employees from all the other states, as well as in the Centre. Employees in the state had hopes from the incumbent state government to correct the mistake that had been made back in 2003, but nothing has been done," Chouhan said.
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"Similar decisions (reinstating the old scheme) have been taken by state governments in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan. We will be able to trust any party or government only after it comes to power and takes a clear decision in our favor," he added, further noting that at present, around 1.5 lakh employees enrolled under the new pension scheme were there in Himachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, political parties, in the closing phases of their election rallies, have promised to restore the older system. AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, at the 'Parivartan Pratigya Rally' in Solan district of the state said on Friday that if Congress was voted to power, the restoration demands and proposition to provide government jobs to one lakh youth in the state would be discussed in the very first cabinet meeting.
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A similar promise came from Himachal Pradesh Aam Aadmi party chief Surjeet Thakur back in September. At a press conference, Thakur further noted that six lakh youth in Himachal would be given a Rs 3,000 monthly allowance until their absorption as government employees if AAP was elected following the 2022 assembly elections.
The Old Pension Scheme was removed back in December 2003 under the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, and a Congress government led by the then Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in the state. The new pension scheme came into effect in 2004.
