Restore Old Pension Scheme in J&K
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU Oct 16: National Mazdoor Conference (NMC), president Subhash Shastri today appealed to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release the pending installment of 4 per cent DA due from July this year along with 18 months pending Dearness Allowance arrears for the Central Government employees well before Dussehra festival.
“We appealed to the PM to announce and release the pending installment of 4 per cent DA due from July this year for employees and pensioners of the Centre as well as State Governments in view of increasing inflation and price hike of essential commodities,” Shastri said.
Interacting with media persons here Shastri said the price index which was 6.89 per cent in December 31 last year increased to 12.49 per cent in June 30, 2023, and urged him to take decision in this regard at the forthcoming Union Cabinet meeting.
The rate of compensation was revised every six months based on average of the consumer price index for previous months and this would be the 16th biannual increase since the recommendation of the 7th Pay Commission which was accepted by the Central Government in 2016, he said.
Shastri said that prices of all essential commodities had gone up and there was no justification on Central Government’s part to withhold this installment of DA along with 18 months pending DA arrears.
He urged him to appoint Chairman and other members of the 8th Pay Commission and take decision in this regard at the earliest and start discussion with representatives of both Central and State governments employees and pensioners, organizations, adding that the appointment of 8th Pay Commission will end confusion and uncertainty among the employees and pensioners on this issue once for all.
Stressing on the need Shastri also urged him to immediately restore Old Pension Scheme in place of NPS as confidence building measures. He said that many States like Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Karnataka and Sikkim have restored old pension scheme in favor of NPS employees.
The NMC president urged the Govt to grant a special package of Rs 2,000 crore for regularization of 61,000 casual and seasonal labourers in one go in J&K.
Among other who were present on the occasion included B S Jamwal, Surinder Kumar, Rajan Babu, Ramesh Sharma, Ram Singh, Rakesh Padha and others.