Telangana State staff raises voice against Contributory Pension Scheme

Hyderabad: Thousands of employees and teachers on Sunday protested against the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for them and demanded the government to bring back the old pension scheme immediately at a programme organised at Nizam College Grounds here on Sunday.

The employees and teachers have raised their voice and protested against TRS MLA and president of Telangana Gazetted Officers Association V Srinivas Goud while he was addressing the meeting and demanded him to introduce a resolution in the Assembly opposing the new pension scheme.

Bowing down to the demand of the protesters, Srinivas Goud announced from the stage that he would ensure passing of a resolution in the Assembly against the new pension scheme and would also strive to convince Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao for withdrawing implementation of new pension scheme.
The protestors wanted to know why the ruling party had failed to adopt a resolution in the Assembly opposing the new pension scheme in the recently concluded session. In fact, the Telangana government had adopted the CPS when it was asked to exercise its option after the formation of the new state. It may also be recalled here that Finance Minister Eatala Rajender strongly supported the CPS and said the employees who had opted for the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) would get more money at the time of retirement, compared to those under the old pension scheme.
Meanwhile, various government employees and officers’ associations assured their support to the movement against the new pension scheme for the government employees. The protest meeting, named as Shankharavam, was organised by the Telangana State Contributory Pension Scheme Employees Association (TSCPSEA) with the participation of employees of CPS from 31 districts of the state.

Telangana Non Gazetted Employees Association honorary president Devi Prasad called upon the employees to participate in Chalo Parliament programme on March 2. He said that due to the opposition of the employees, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill was not introduced till 2013 in Parliament. Devi Prasad made it clear that the withdrawal of new pension scheme should be the aim and objective of the employees.

He said that a unified action plan should be prepared to bring pressure on the governments to withdraw the CPS. The NGOs leader said that a delegation of employees should meet the Chief Minister to convince him to reject the new pension system. President of TSCPSEA Sthitha Pragna said that with the introduction of CPS several retired employees were unable to get pension benefits. He called some retired employees and kin of the deceased employees on to the stage who narrated their woes.

Former MLC K Nageshwar said that under the new pension scheme the pensionary benefits of the employees would be subject to volatility of the stock market. The employees were also denied even the family pension under the new scheme, he said. Telangana State United Teachers Federation president Narsi Reddy said the government should scrap the new pension system immediately. He extended the support to the agitation of the CPS employees. Telangana should become a role model by scrapping the new pension scheme, he said.

Junior College Lecturers’ Association president Madhusudan Reddy said the CPS system has become a nationwide issue and entire nation has been looking at Telangana on its movement against the new pension system.

The meeting was addressed by Uttar Pradesh Teachers’ Association president Vijaykumar Bandhu, Panjab teachers’ leader Surjeet Singh, Himachal Pradesh teachers’ leader Naresh Thakur, TGOs president Mamatha, STU leader Bhujanga Rao, PRTU leader Sarvotham Reddy, TNGOs leader K Sivaji, Group – 1 Officers’ Association, Tahasildars’ Association, and Revenue Employees Association leaders.