A rally was taken out by Karnataka State Government Employees in Belagavi on Sunday against the New Pension Scheme (NPS), which, the employees said, is not in their interest.
Members of the Karnataka Government NPS Employees Association demanded that the State government do away with the NPS and bring back the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for all employees.
They walked from Kote Kere to Rani Channamma Circle and ended their rally at the Deputy Commissioner’s office. They held placards and shouted slogans against the State government.
President of the association S. Shantaram said that a State-level rally will be held at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on December 19. He said that district-level rallies are being conducted in all district headquarters. “We have been agitating since 2006, when the government introduced this discriminating policy. However, successive governments have been blind to our woes,” he said.
According to him, the scheme is against the guarantee of equality provided by the Constitution, as it discriminated against NPS employees who are getting lesser pensions compared to OPS employees.
The State government has been falsely claiming that the NPS is a Central government measure and that it cannot be dropped or changed by the State government. This is wrong. Several State governments, including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, have implemented OPS. Karnataka can also do so, he said.
Leaders Siddappa Sangannanavar, M.A. Naganagouda, Chandrakant Talwar, L. Dayananda, Mahesh Hosur, Jayakumar Hebli, Ramu Gugwad, Siddarama Lokannavar, S.M. Patil, V.R. Haibati and others were present.
