Thousands of State government employees covered under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) took out a rally from the Tummalapalli Kalakshetram to the Bishop Azaraiah School grounds to press for their demand of being transferred to the regular pension scheme, here on Friday.
AP Non-Gazetted Officers’ Association president P. Ashok Babu, Amaravati Joint Action Committee president B. Venkateswarlu, A.P. Contributory Pension Scheme Employees’ Association president P. Ramanjaneyulu Yadav and general secretary L.G. Yugandar participated in the rally and a meeting.
The CPS Association leaders said that Andhra Pradesh could save ₹800 crore in matching grant if all the CPS employees were transferred to the pension scheme that was being given to the other State government employees. They said there were 1.53 lakh State employees covered under the Contributory Pension Scheme. The option of premature withdrawal was not available to the employees under the CPS and they were not sure of the returns until maturity because the annuity rates after maturity were not fixed, the leaders said, explaining the drawbacks of the CPS. There was no security for the employees under the CPS, they maintained.
The APNGO leader said that every State had employees covered under the CPS and a united struggle was needed at the nation level to resolve the problems of those under the scheme.
Employees from all the 13 districts of the State participated. MLCs Katti Narasimha Reddy and Gade Srinivasulu Naidu were among those who participated in the rally and spoke at the meeting.
