Urban Mirror Correspondent
Lucknow, October 23: The Lok Gathbandhan Party (LGP) today extended support to the protesting employees of Uttar Pradesh government demanding restoration of old pension scheme, which was in existence before 2004. The LGP said the employees have decided to go on three-day strike from October 25, as the government has turned down their justified demand.
The LGP spokesman said here on Tuesday that the scheme was arbitrarily scrapped by the then NDA government in 2004. The spokesman said the BJP government in UP has also adopted a hostile attitude towards the employees on the issue. Pointing out that employees all over the country are agitated over the issue, the spokesman asked both central and UP governments to accept their demand without delay. The spokesman also condemned the state government’s decision of “no work no pay†decision during three-day strike period. The spokesman said instead of listening to their genuine grievances the UP government has been trying to harass the employees.
The spokesman that social security is fundamental right of the employee and he/she cannot be abandoned after the retirement. The spokesman said the NDA government should immediately accept the demand of the employees for restoration of old pension scheme so that their post-retirement future could be protected. The spokesman said future of lakh of government employees is at stake and the NDA government cannot ignore this vital issue.
The spokesman said the employees have been facing inconvenience due to the current plan. The spokesman said the government had earlier decided to form a review committee for the re-implementation of the old pension scheme but nothing has been done in this regard so far. The spokesman said that contributory fund scheme (CPF) should be discontinued and old scheme should be reintroduced. The spokesman said under the present scheme the employees are not provided medical and ex-gratia facilities. The spokesman said the present scheme is dependent on the share market as the fund contributed by employees is being used by private companies. It lacks security.
