Himachal Electricity Board employees, pensioners stage demonstration in Shimla

Seeking restoration of old pension scheme, removal of board MD

 The Newz Radar

Shimla: Employees of the Himachal Pradesh Electricity Board and pensioners from all over the state gathered in large numbers here on Thursday to stage a demonstration.

They were seeking restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS) and the removal of the Board Managing Director Harikesh Meena.

The agitating employees declared in one voice that they would ensure the restoration of OPS and they would continue their agitation till their demands were met.

The employees, who were staging the demonstration at the Board HQ here, were planning to head to the state secretariat but were refused permission by the district administration.

The employees were angry that while the OPS had been restored for employees of all other departments the Board employees were being denied what was promised by the government. Nearly 6600 employees are eligible to get the old pension.

Ironically, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has already made an announcement that the OPS would be restored for the Board employees but despite this, and despite previous agitations by the Board employees, nothing concrete has been done.

The Board has already stopped sending the New Pension Scheme (NPS) share of the employees to the Union government and the deducted amount is being retained with the Board.

Electricity Board Engineer and Employee Joint Action assistant convenor Hiralal Verma said that the CCS rules apply to all government departments as well as the electricity board and the OPS was in force in the board before 2003 as was the case of all other government departments. He added that when the government changed the CCS pension rules then the change should have been effective for the Board too but due to the failure of the management the OPS has not been restored. He said that now the Board employees do not want assurances, rather they want the OPS.

Verma said that the government has appointed the current MD temporarily and during his tenure, the financial condition of the Board has deteriorated.
He said that the future strategy will be discussed with the employees at the Board HQ gate.