CHANDIGARH: The President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring questioned the Aam Aadmi Party today during the Vidhan Sabha session regarding the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme and the false promises made by the AAP during their 2022 election campaign in Punjab as well as during their campaigns in other states.
The PPCC Chief stated – “It is evident that the notification for the Old Pension Scheme made by the Punjab government was just to garner votes in other states. The Old Pension Scheme has not been put into effect by AAP in Punjab, the state they are currently in governance in, but they have been promising the scheme throughout their election campaigns in other states as well. The AAP leadership just wanted to campaign that they have implemented OPS in Punjab but they never had an intention to do the same.”
He further added – “The Punjab government claims that implementation of OPS has not been possible as the government hasn’t received the required funds from the central government. If that is the case, how have Congress governments in Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan implemented the scheme without any issue? If NPS is not being implemented anymore in Punjab, why is 4, 500 crore being given yearly to the central pool? If needed, we can teach the Aam Aadmi Party regarding the implementation of the OPS if they need learning about the same.”
Giving suggestions, Raja Warring said – “Implementation of the scheme needs proper planning and knowledge by the administration. The governments in Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh have asked their employees on which scheme they want to be a part of, OPS or NPS. Those who chose OPS, their instalments to the centre were stopped and a corpus was started as per OPS norms. The amount they had paid till then, will be given to them as per the NPS Scheme when they will they retire. Whatever gap along with interest will be paid by the employee to the state government and they will be given pension as per OPS.”
Amarinder Singh Raja Warring further concluded by telling the Aam Aadmi Party – “About 5-6 employees have been given the benefits of the Old Pension Scheme in the state of Himachal Pradesh. If needed, we can help the Aam Aadmi Party and the employees can be considered as points of reference in order to implement the scheme in the state of Punjab.”