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Punjab government approve the implementation of Old Pension Scheme

The cabinet also emphasized that the scheme will be made self-sustainable from the resources of the exchequer (Twitter)

An official of the government claimed that the decision will benefit 1.75 lakh government employees and currently, about 1.26 lakh employees are already covered under the Old Pension Scheme. The official said, that it was a long-pending demand of the employees who are currently working under the New Pension Scheme (NPS).

"The scheme is aimed at safeguarding the future of government employees and recognizing their immense contribution towards the state. In order to ensure that the scheme being introduced is financially sustainable for the exchequer in the future also, the state government will be contributing proactively towards the creation of a pension corpus which will service the pension in future to the beneficiaries of the scheme," the spokesperson said.

The government will contribute Rs. 1000 crore towards the pension corpus annually which will increase in the future. It will also request Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) to refund the current accumulated corpus of NPS which is 16,746 crore.

The cabinet also emphasized that the scheme will be made self-sustainable from the resources of the exchequer and the future of employees will not be risked.

The decision of the Punjab government came at a time when many financial experts are warning against the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). On Thursday, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Girish Chandra Murmu also warned against the restoration of the scheme and stressed that it can risk the fiscal health of states.

The issue of OPS has now become politically sensitive, with parties like Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) keeping restoration of the scheme as part of their election promises. The Congress-led governments of Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh are also in the process to restore the scheme.

With inputs from ANI.

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