With eye on Gujarat elections, AAP govt notifies OPS in state

1.75 lakh government employees who joined the service after 2004 likely to benefit in Punjab

CHANDIGARH: With an eye on the Gujarat assembly elections, the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party government on Friday notified the implementation of the old pension scheme (OPS) in Punjab.

“The OPS has been approved by the Cabinet. Its implementation will bring huge benefits to employees. The notification of the OPS has been done,” Mann announced at a press conference at the secretariat.

Even as the chief minister claimed at the press conference that the notification for the OPS has been issued, the press statement about the Cabinet later in the day issued by the government did not clear if the notification for the same has been issued or not.

Punjab is the fourth state after Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan to implement the OPS. An in-principle approval to implement the OPS in Punjab had already been given by the Cabinet on October 21.

The government’s move is being seen as a bid to score brownie points in the Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign in the assembly elections in Gujarat, where the AAP is making a desperate bid to expand its base. The party has also announced to implement OPS in Gujarat as well if voted to power.

Once implemented, the move is likely to benefit around 1.75 lakh government employees in Punjab who joined service after 2004, said a spokesperson from the Chief Minister’s Office.

The scheme is expected to benefit more than 4, 100 employees in the next five years.

The spokesperson said the scheme is aimed at safeguarding the future of government employees and recognising their immense contribution towards the state.

In order to ensure that the scheme being introduced is financially sustainable for the exchequer in future also, the state government will be contributing proactively towards creation of a pension corpus which will contribute in pension in future to the beneficiaries of the scheme, the spokesperson said.

This contribution towards the pension corpus will be Rs 1,000 crore per annum initially and will gradually increase in future. In addition, the current accumulated corpus with the New Pension Scheme is Rs 16,746 crore for which the state government will request the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), Government of India, to refund this amount for effective utilisation at its end.

The Cabinet reiterated its commitment that the scheme will be made self-sustainable from the resources available with the exchequer, adding that under no circumstance, the future of employees will be jeopardised.

Sugarcane to be procured at ₹380/quintal

The Cabinet also gave its nod to procure sugarcane at the rate of Rs 380 a quintal. “This rate is highest in the country. It’s for the first time that all pending payments for the last season are being cleared. Crushing of sugarcane in the sugar mills will start from November 20,” Mann said.

Vacancies of 645 lecturers to be filled

In another decision, the Cabinet approved the filling of vacancies of 645 lecturers in government colleges.

It decided to fill 16 posts of principal in the government colleges by increasing their minimum qualification age from 45 to 54 years.

Dharna has become ‘rivaaz’ for some farm unions: CM

The chief minister took on farmer unions for holding dharnas (protests) against his government despite it taking “historic decisions” for their welfare over the past seven months.

“It has become a tradition in recent times that one dharna is done for raising a demand, another for meeting the administration and yet another for the notification of the demands. It appears that dharna has become a ‘rivaaz’,” said Mann.

He appealed to farmer unions not to resort to dharnas so frequently as it inconveniences the common man.