Punjab Cabinet approves implementation of old pension scheme
Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Nov, 2022 02:07 PM
Chandigarh, Nov 18 (IANS) Eyeing Gujarat elections, the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government on Friday approved the notification for implementing the old pension scheme (OPS) in Punjab, directly benefitting more than 1.75 lakh government employees.
A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of the council of Ministers held under the leadership of the Chief Minister here.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the government has approved the OPS for its employees currently covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS), fulfilling a long-pending demand of employees of the state.
This will directly benefit more than 1.75 lakh employees currently covered under NPS. In addition to this, 1.26 lakh employees are already covered under the existing OPS.
The scheme is aimed at safeguarding the future of government employees and recognising their contribution towards the state. In order to ensure that the scheme being introduced is financially sustainable for the exchequer in the future also, the government will be contributing proactively towards creation of a pension corpus which will service the pension in future to the beneficiaries of the scheme.
This contribution towards the pension corpus will be Rs 1,000 crore per annum initially and will gradually increase in future.
Besides, the current accumulated corpus with NPS is Rs 16,746 crore for which the state will request Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of the government of India to refund this amount for effective utilisation at its end.
Lt Gen Aujla, an alumnus of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, was commissioned in December 1987 and has had an illustrious military career spanning 35 years during which he has held varied prestigious command, staff and instructional appointments.
The area around the Intelligence Bureau office has been sealed and investigation is in progress. A bomb disposal and forensic squads have been positioned at the spot. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spoke to Director General of Police V.K. Bhawra and sought details about the incident.
Notably, the police detained several people, including party workers, who were not allowing the SDMC to carry out the demolition drive at Shaheen Bagh. After the agitation was quelled, the bulldozer moved forward to demolish the illegal encroachment, an iron structure in front of a building. It is at this juncture that Khan reached the spot and was seen speaking to the officials.
Punjab shares a 553-km barbed-wire fenced international border with Pakistan which is under the vigil of nearly 135 BSF battalions. The drug network operates along the Afghanistan-Pakistan-India route.
Police are looking at this angle. The incident took place near Kengeri at 1 a.m. and the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals. According to the police, the bus had first hit the 4-feet tall road divider and then rammed into the Namma Metro Pillar number 545.
Chairing a meeting of the Special Task Force (STF) team led by its chief Harpreet Sidhu here, Mann said neither political persons nor officers would be spared if found conniving with the drug mafia. He told the police officers to work freely without any political pressure with a sharpened focus to make Punjab a drug-free state.
