Old Pension Scheme 2023: There is a new update for lakhs of government employees of Himachal Pradesh. CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu’s big statement on the old pension scheme has come to the fore.
CM Sukhu said that the state government has made necessary budgetary provisions before announcing the restoration of the old pension scheme. The Himachal cabinet during its first meeting after deliberations has approved the restoration of the scheme.
CM Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu said that the state government has restored OPS only after making proper provision of the budget. Fulfilling the first guarantee of OPS restoration in the first cabinet meeting itself proved that we did what we said. The previous BJP government has failed to live up to its promises, but all other guarantees of the Congress manifesto will be fulfilled in a phased manner.
Will fulfill all the promises
The CM said that the Congress would fulfill all other promises made in its ‘promise letter’ before the assembly elections in a phased manner after making adequate financial provisions. Also said that while promising to implement the recommendations of the Pay Commission, he criticized the previous BJP administration for allegedly failing to pay the dues of the employees, saying that the present government has been handed over an empty treasury. The hasty steps taken by the BJP government are unwanted and unnecessary. Dearness Allowance was also only announced and the employees could not be paid during their tenure.
Office memorandum has been issued
It may be noted that in the first cabinet meeting in Himachal Pradesh, the old pension scheme was implemented with immediate effect. After this, an office memorandum has been issued in January. In this, the Finance Department was directed to notify the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), terms and conditions for implementing the decision to restore the old pension. The same Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena had clarified that the old pension terms and conditions and SOP would be issued separately. The Finance Department will issue a separate standard operating procedure, terms and conditions regarding the pension release formula. In this regard, instructions have been issued by the Chief Secretary to all administrative secretaries.
Benefits of Old Pension Scheme
- After the retirement of the government employee in OPS, half of the last basic salary and dearness allowance is given as pension from the treasury of the government.
- Dearness allowance is also increased twice every year, and the pension given to the family of the pensioner on the death of the pensioner is also included in the OPS.
- In OPS, the basic pension is increased by 20 per cent when the pensioner turns 80, thus the pensioner gets 30 per cent at the age of 85, 40 per cent at the age of 90, 50 per cent at the age of 95 and 100 per cent. Increases by 100% with age.
- The pension amount doubles when the age of the pensioner reaches 100. Employees in OPS get a gratuity of up to Rs 20 lakh after retirement.
- On the retirement of the employee in OPS, he does not have to pay any kind of income tax on the interest of GPF.
- Dearness Allowance (DA) is applicable after 6 months for the employees in the old pension scheme OPS.
