Samajwadi Party members on Monday demanded restoration of the old pension scheme in Uttar Pradesh and later staged a walk-out in the legislative council after their demand was rejected by the government.

Raising the issue during the question hour as soon as the proceedings of the council started on Monday, SP MLC Dr Man Singh Yadav demanded that the old pension scheme in government services be restored immediately so that lakhs and lakhs of employees and their family members could live a dignified life after retirement.

Replying to Yadav’s demand, state minister Mayankeshwar Singh said that the old pension scheme could not be restored after which the SP members objected and accusing the government of being anti-employees, staged a walk-out from the Upper House.

Later demanding action against the officials guilty, SP MLC Ashutosh Sinha claimed in the House that in Varanasi Nagar Nigam, a company which was not even in existence was given contract. He also demanded that the company be to black-listed at earliest. Manvendra Singh informed the House about the action taken so far in the matter on which Chairman Kunwar Manvendra Singh directed him to take further necessary action.

Another SP member, Swami Prasad Maurya, asked about the policy relating to transfer of officials of Uttar Pradesh Cooperative Federation Limited (3-year in districts and 5-year in ranges) and enquired about the irregularities. Minister of State for Cooperative replied to his query but Chairman, Manvendra Singh directed him to see the entire matter and take action if any irregularities came up.