The 27th State meet of the Kerala Service Pensioners’ Union that came to a close at Adoor on Wednesday has called upon the government to take necessary steps to restore the statutory pension scheme.
A resolution passed at the annual meet has also urged the government to appoint a commission for revising the pension as announced earlier.
The resolution further called upon the government to sanction additional pension benefits for elderly pensioners, besides implementing a medical insurance scheme for the pensioners.
Addressing the meet on Tuesday, Forest Minister K. Raju said he stood for raising the retirement age of government employees.
He said retirement age had been fixed at 55 years at a time when the average life expectancy 55 years. Now, the average life expectancy had gone up to 76 years and leaders of various youth organisations should have a rethink on whether the existing retirement age should be continued or raised, he said.
G. Padmanabha Pillai, union treasurer, presided. Chittayam Gopakumr, and Veena George, MLAs; and M. Ramakrishnan, C.T. Ulahannan, and K. Mohankumar, union office-bearers; were among those who addressed the meet.
