Haryana Govt in dilemma over old pension scheme

Tribune News Service

Pradeep Sharma

Chandigarh, March 9

The Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP government is caught in a catch-22 situation with the chorus for the restoration of the old pension scheme growing louder with the each passing day.

New scheme benefits corporates

The government’s stand on the issue is unviable. The market-driven new scheme is tailored to benefit the corporates at the cost of employees. Balraj Kundu, Meham MLA

Despite Khattar virtually rejecting the demand for the restoration of the scheme yesterday, the state government is increasingly finding it difficult to defend its stand on the issue. In Haryana, about 1.5 lakh employees, recruited after January 1, 2006, are affected by the decision to introduce the new pension scheme.

“In fact, the formation of a high-level committee by the BJP-led Himachal Pradesh Government to examine the feasibility of reverting to the old pension scheme seems to have made the saffron party’s position untenable in Haryana,” a senior functionary of the BJP told The Tribune today.

Terming the government’s stand on the issue as “unviable”, Independent MLA from Meham Balraj Kundu alleged the market-driven new pension scheme was tailored to benefit the corporates at the cost of state employees. “When Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh can implement the old pension scheme and even Himachal is positively inclined towards it, what is stopping the Haryana Government from reverting to it in public interest?” asks Kundu, who has been flagging the issue consistently.

Meanwhile, Subhash Lamba, president of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh (SKS), asserted that the re-introduction of the old pension scheme was a win-win situation for both employment and the state government.

According to calculations by the SKS, the state government invested an amount of Rs 79.58 crore per month (Rs 957 crore per year) in the new pension scheme. If Rs 2.65 crore are paid to the new retiring 1,000 employees per month, the state government stood to save an amount of Rs 76.39 crore per month (Rs 916 crore per annum).

The old pension scheme was scrapped by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government from April 1, 2004, and was replaced with a market-driven new plan. Haryana adopted the new pension scheme from January 1, 2006.

Old scheme scrapped in 2004

The old pension scheme was scrapped by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government from April 1, 2004, and was replaced with a market-driven new plan. Haryana adopted the new pension scheme from January 1, 2006.

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