Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Apr 26 : Strongly refuting the reports in a section of media that, in the wake of COVID pandemic, DoPT (Department of Personnel & Training) has moved a proposal for reducing the age of retirement of Government employees to 50 years, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also In-Charge DoPT, categorically stated here today that there is no such move to reduce the retirement age nor has such a proposal been discussed or contemplated at any level in the Government.
In a specifically convened media briefing, Dr Jitendra Singh said, there are certain motivated elements which have been over the last few days, time and again, planting such disinformation in a section of media and attributing it to the Government sources or DoPT. He said, each time a prompt rebuttal is sought to be made in order to clear the confusion in the minds of stakeholders. He said, it was unfortunate that at a time when the country is going through Corona crisis and the entire world is praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his proactive handling of the pandemic, there are certain elements and vested interests which try to underplay all the good work done by the Government by planting such baseless media stories.
On the contrary, right from the beginning of the emergence of the Corona challenge, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Government and the DoPT have, from time to time, taken prompt decisions to safeguard the interests of the employees. For example, he said, even before the lockdown was officially announced, DoPT had issued an Advisory for the offices to work with “absolutely necessary” or minimum staff. Even though the essential services were exempted from this guideline, DoPT had issued directions to exempt the “Divyang” employees even from the essential services, he added.
Considering the constraints of the lockdown, Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that DoPT had postponed the last date for filling of the Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) by the Government officials.
At the same time, Dr Jitendra Singh referred to the UPSC’s decision to reschedule the dates of IAS/Civil Services interview/personality test and also announced that the dates of Civil Services Preliminary Exam will be announced after May 3. Similarly, on the same lines, SSC had also postponed its process of recruitment.
As for Department of Personnel in the Ministry of Personnel, Dr Jitendra Singh said that last week there was fake news that the Government had decided to impose a 30% reduction in the pension and discontinue pension for those who are above the age of 80. However, contrary to this, the truth is that on the 31st of March, there was not a single pensioner whose pension was not deposited in his account. Not only this, services of the Postal Department were sought to deliver the pension amount, whenever required.
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