MP: Congress urges Chouhan to restore old pension scheme for state government employees 

BHOPAL: Congress leader Jaivardhan Singh on Friday said he has appealed to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to restore the old pension scheme for state government employees like Rajasthan did earlier this week.

Speaking to reporters, Singh said the Congress will vociferously raise the issue and it will be a major poll plank in the 2023 state Assembly polls if the demand is not met.

"I have written to Shivrajji regarding restoration of the old pension scheme. We are going to vociferously raise this issue in the budget session of the Assembly. Our leader Kamal Nathji is going to raise this issue and it would be a major poll plank in the 2023 MP assembly polls if the demand is not met," Singh said.

State government employees play a key role in the development of the state. They are feeling insecure with the new pension policy that came into force in 2005, he said.

"This is their reasonable demand, which should be met. The Congress will stand behind the employees (numbering in lakhs), who want restoration of the old pension scheme," the Congress MLA said.

Singh said he had raised this issue in the last budget session as well but was told that there was no proposal to restore the old pension scheme for employees hired since 2005. The budget session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly will begin on March 7.

In a populist budget, the Congress government in Rajasthan announced the restoration of the old pension scheme for its employees appointed on and after January 1, 2004.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot in his budget speech said that after 2004, a provision of contributory pension was done under the national pension scheme, but this has created a sense of insecurity among the state employees for post-retirement life.