Retired Employees (1995) Coordination Committee, Bhopal would protest at the Jantar Mantar, New Delhi on December 5 to 6 demanding hike in EPF pension. Samiti would also take out a rally from Jantar Mantar to Parliament on December 7.
While talking to the media persons here on Monday, Samiti’s National Deputy General Secretary Chandrashekhar Parsai stated that the retired employees of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) are getting pension of around Rs 2500. However, this amount is too low to manage household. In the year 2012, Parliamentarian Prakash Javadekar had raised the issue in the Rajya Sabha for the revision of EPF 1995 pension scheme. Rajya Sabha had formed a committee of 10 parliamentarians to look into the matter.
The committee was headed by Bhagat Singh Koshyari. Koshyari committee had submitted its report (number 147) on August 29, 2013 but anyhow the report is still pending in the Rajya Sabha. Koshyari committee had recommended the central government to increase its contribution to 1.16 per cent and recommended to increase the pension contribution from 8.33 per cent to 8.96 per cent, he added.
Parsai demanded that the minimum amount of the pension should be increased to Rs 7500 per month while Dearness Allowance (DA) should also be provided along with the pension amount. The Provident Fund Act 1952 should be amended as there are various defects in the act.
Parsai further added that several parliamentarians such as NK Premchandran, Kirti Solanki, Om Birla, Shankar Prasad Dutta, Jagdambika Pal and Nishikant Dubey had demanded that the pension should be increased in order to benefit the people and demanded that the recommendations of the Koshyari committee should also be implemented.