Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the matter has been studied deeply and the officers from finance departments also expressed reservations regarding the restoration of the OPS, but the issue has been settled and all the employees currently under the New Pension Scheme (NPS) will be covered under the OPS, the modalities of which will be chalked out in consultation with employees.
"We are not restoring the Old Pension Scheme for votes but to give social security and safeguard the self-respect of the employees who have scripted the history of Himachal's development," Sukhu said during an address to employees at the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat on Thursday.
"Pension provides self-respect as parents are not dependent on their children. My mother is not dependent on her children as my father's pension takes care of her needs. The government will work towards providing a dignified life to its employees after retirement," he said.
Under the NPS there are currently 1,30,000 employees and 12,000 pensioners. The Chief Minister believes that employees of the state are the backbone of any regime and their hard work enables the government to implement its program and policies.
He added that the government is committed to providing good governance and active and constructive support of the state employees in necessary for that.
"We have full confidence that the Old Pension Scheme will be restored for employees who entered government service after 2004 and the chief minister will take a decision in this regard in the first Cabinet on Friday," Pradeep Thakur, chief of the New Pension Scheme Employees Federation, said to news agency PTI.
"We have informed the government that the liability for 2022-23 under the New Pension Scheme is ₹1,632 crore, of which employees and the government will deposit ₹680 crore and ₹952 crore, respectively, while the liability under the Old Pension Scheme will only be ₹147 crore," Thakur added.
(With inputs from PTI)
