Such ploys to mislead Punjab employees will further erode Mann’s credibility
Chandigarh – Senior congress leader & Punjab’s leader of the opposition (LoP), Partap Singh Bajwa on Tuesday said half hearted measures of Bhagwant Mann government on Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to garner votes in the Gujarat assembly polls has infuriated the Punjab government employees.
In case the Punjab government did not address the growing concern of the employees immediately it would further erode the already dwindling credibility of Bhagwant Mann to a new low.
Bajwa said the employees union of Punjab has already issued an ultimatum to the Bhagwant Mann government to issue a detailed notification pertaining to OPS failing which they would be forced to launch an agitation.
Only three days ago when the Bhagwant Mann government issued a notification on the OPS it claimed its implementation would benefit nearly 1.75 lakh employees of the state government as well as their families.
Bajwa said however the employees were least impressed after going through the notification and termed it a mere eyewash. The union said the Bhagwant Mann government was taking the employees for a ride ahead of Gujarat assembly polls as it intended to woo voters in the western state.
The employees said if the Bhagwant Mann government was actually serious about the OPS why it did not issue a detailed notification in this regard. When would they stop deducting contributory money which they had been doing so for the new pension scheme (NPS).
The employees also revealed that while issuing the notification the government said detailed scheme & standard operating procedure (SOP) would be notified in the due course of time.
“ Now this is sheer cheating. Why has the Bhagwant Mann government not issued a detailed notification from the word go instead of saying it would be done in the due course of time. It shows the decision was taken in a hurry only to seek votes in Gujarat and the employees here in Punjab were grossly misled”, said Bajwa.
The employees have already threatened to hold a protest demonstration on November 27 in the mini secretariat and on November 30 they would do so in the main civil secretariat.
