Telangana Gazetted Officers’ Association organised a protest rally demanding abolition of Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) here on Wednesday.
In response to the call given by Employees Joint Action Committee, employees staged a dharna at the Gruha Kalpa Complex in Nampally and took out a rally from there to the Office of Excise Commissioner. Similar rallies were conducted at different places in the State, including Sangareddy and Karimnagar.
The TGPs leaders resolved that employees, gazetted officers and teachers wage a united fight and conduct a ‘Chalo Delhi’ programme and continue their agitation till old pension scheme was restored. The employees would fight for their basic right the way they fought for a separate State, they said.
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Financial security
Government jobs were most coveted because of the financial security they offered but with the decision of the government to replace old pension scheme with CPS, the future of about 1.25 lakh employees who entered service from September 1, 2005 and their families became uncertain, association representatives said.
TGOs chairman and Mahbubnagar MLA V.Srinivas Goud criticised that Central and State governments did injustice to the employees by snatching away pension, which was their basic right. Some 1,000 employees had retired so far and not even one of them got pension under the CPS and the families of deceased employees were in distress, he said.
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TGOs president and Employees JAC secretary general V. Mamatha said that because of CPS, employees lost their economic and social security. Later hundreds of employees took out a motorbike rally led by Mr. Srinivas Goud and other leaders from Gruha Kalpa Complex to Hyderabad Collectorate.
CPI(M) support
CPI(M) Telangana State Committee has demanded the restoration of old pension scheme for government employees and expressed its solidarity to the mass casual leave protest by the employees and teachers on September 1.
State secretary Thammineni Veerabhadram said the then NDA government introduced New Pension Scheme from January 1, 2004 and later the successive UPA government despite opposition from employees, teachers and workers and the MPs of Left Parties in Parliament passed a legislation in September, 2013 with the support of the BJP.
States’ choice
The Centre however gave freedom to the States to decide about the new pension scheme for its employees.
Tripura and West Bengal governments were implementing the Old Pension Scheme even now while Tamil Nadu and Kerala constituted committees for restoring the Old Pension Scheme.
In the United Andhra Pradesh, the then State Government was the first to implement the CPS from September 1, 2004. After the formation of Telangana State, government signed agreement to continue the implementation of national pension scheme.
In Sangareddy the Telangana Employees JAC held a rally from Collectorate to IB. TNGOs general secretary M. Rajender has alleged that CPS has turned into no pension scheme for the retired employees.