OPS: Government employees hit the road in Maharashtra, the old pension scheme became a bone of contention for the Shinde-Fadnavis government

Mumbai: There has been a discussion across the country regarding the implementation of the old pension scheme. Congress has got a new issue while sitting. It is believed that in the coming days this will become a big issue across the country. The movement has also started in Maharashtra. The constituents of the Mahavikas Aghadi, including the Congress, are planning a strategy to hit the streets. Political analysts are assuming that this issue will become a bone of contention for the BJP in the coming days. On Friday, the opposition surrounded the government in the Legislative Council for implementing the old pension scheme. However, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis put forth the arguments of Montek Singh Ahluwalia, former Deputy Chairman of the then Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog) to counter it. Fadnavis told the House that economist Ahluwalia had once said that re-implementing the old pension scheme would be “a way to financial bankruptcy”.

Government employees took out a march
Re-implementing the old pension would be tantamount to shifting the financial burden on the next government. Fadnavis assured the House that after the session is over, he himself would hold a meeting with government employees’ unions, teachers’ union and finance secretaries to find out if there is a viable solution better than the National Pension Scheme. After this reply of the government, the government employees showed displeasure. Even after the holiday in Kolhapur district on Saturday, government employees took out a front, in which leaders of the Mahavikas Aghadi government including Congress leader and member of the Legislative Council Satej Patil participated. The teaching class of the state has extended its support.

Patil said that the old pension scheme is being implemented in the country where the Congress government is in power, then the question arises that why the old pension cannot be implemented in the BJP ruled states? In the coming days, this movement will be held in every district of the state. We will force the government to implement the old pension scheme.

16 lakh workers in the state
There are about 16 lakh 10 thousand government employees in the state. The state government has to spend Rs 58,000 crore per year on the salaries of all these government employees. In such a situation, if the old pension scheme is implemented and it is decided to implement it from 2004, then there will be an additional burden of 50 to 55 thousand crore rupees on the exchequer of the state government. Along with this, the state government will spend an additional Rs 4 to 4.5 thousand crores on teachers’ pension. In such a situation, it will not be easy for the government to implement the old pension scheme. In 2030, a large number of employees will retire in Maharashtra. It is estimated that by then more than 2.5 lakh employees will retire.

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