For the benefit of State Government employees, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has promised to reintroduce old pension scheme in Punjab once it is voted to power in 2017.
AAP Punjab in-charge Sanjay Singh State convener Gurpreet Singh Waraich (Ghuggi), Punjab Dialogue head Kanwar Sandhu and party’s legal Cell head Himmat Singh Shergill, addressing a press conference at Chandigarh, stated that if voted to power, AAP would reintroduce old pension scheme which was discontinued after January 1, 2004.
“After coming to power, we will withdraw the new pension scheme which was introduced after 2004 and will revert to the old pension scheme for the benefit of the employees,” Ghuggi said.
He said that the aforesaid decision by the party has been taken after a careful study of both the schemes and it was found that the old pension scheme was much beneficial for the state government employees than the new one.
Ghuggi and Punjab Dialogue head Kanwar Sandhu held a meeting with the president of Punjab Union Employees Sukhjeet Singh and others president in Jalandhar on October 24 and promised to implement the old pension scheme.
Sandhu said that it has also been promised that AAP would include the aforesaid promise in its manifesto hence making it a commitment with employees that this would surely be reintroduced.
Ghuggi said that the old pension scheme was more beneficial for the employees due to its various facilities such as commutation of pension, retirement gratuity, death gratuity, service gratuity, leave encashment, family pension and group insurance.
It is AAP’s endeavour to benefit all sections of the society who have been deprived by successive governments of SAD-BJP alliance and Congress government due to various political interests during the previous tenures, he added.