The first meeting of the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet is likely to take up the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, an electoral promise of the Congress, on Friday.
''We are not restoring the Old Pension Scheme for votes but to give social security and safeguard the self respect of the employees who have scripted the history of Himachal's development,'' Sukhu said during an address to employees at the Himachal Pradesh Secretariat on Thursday.
''Pension provides self respect as parents are not dependent on their children. My mother is not dependent on her children as my father's pension takes care of her needs. ''The government will work towards providing a dignified life to its employees after retirement,'' he said.
The matter has been studied in depth and, despite some reservations by finance officers, the issue has been settled. All employees under the New Pension Scheme will be covered under the Old Pension Scheme, the modalities of which will be worked out in consultation with the employees, Sukhu added.
Employees who joined government service from January 1, 2004, are covered under the New Pension Scheme -- in which the government and employees contribute 10 and 14 per cent, respectively, towards the pension fund. In the old scheme, employees with 20 years of service received 50 per cent of their last drawn salary as pension.
Sukhu also hit out at the previous BJP regime and said that the state was under Rs 75,000-crore debt due to its financial mismanagement and wasteful expenditure. Arrears amounting to Rs 5,000 crore are yet to be paid and employee will have to wait some time for this payment, he said Sukhu also highlighted his government's decision to de-notify over 900 institutions opened by the previous BJP dispensation without budgetary provision as Rs 5,000 crore would be required to make them functional.
He said that the Government was committed to take few steps to bring the derailed economy back on track and it was forced to impose a VAT of Rs. 3.01 per litre on diesel to earn revenue for the State exchequer.
The main thrust of the Government during the next five years would be to strengthen the rural economy since about 90 percent population of the State resides in the rural areas, he said , adding that the State Government would buy 10 litres of cow milk at the rate of Rs. 80 per liter and buffalo milk at the rate of Rs. 100 per litre, per day to strengthen the economy of the farmers. The farmers also would be motivated to adopt organic farming on large scale, he added.
PORTFOLIOS ALLOTTED TO MINISTERS
The newly-inducted ministers of the Himachal Pradesh cabinet have been allotted portfolios and the youngest of them, former chief minister Virbhadra Singh's son Vikramaditya Singh, was given the charge of the public works, youth and sports departments.
The eldest member of the cabinet, Dhani Ram Shandil from Solan, was given the charge of the health and family welfare, social justice and empowerment and labour and employment departments. Shandil was the social justice and empowerment minister of the hill state from 2012 to 2017 as well.
Chander Kumar, the only minister from Kangra district, has got the agriculture and animal husbandry departments, while Harshwardhan Chauhan from Sirmaur has been given the industries, parliamentary affairs and ayush portfolios. Both Kumar and Chauhan are six-time MLAs.
Jagat Singh Negi from the tribal Kinnaur district has been given the departments of revenue, horticulture and tribal development, while former chief minister Thakur Ram Lal's grandson Rohit Thakur from Shimla district has got the higher, elementary, technical education and vocational and industrial training portfolios.
The ''rana'' of the erstwhile Koti state, Anirudh Singh from Shimla district, will be the rural development and panchayati raj minister.
The oath-taking ceremony of the newly-inducted ministers (three from Shimla and one each from Solan, Kangra, Sirmaur and Kinnaur districts) was held on January 8.
Sukhu has retained the finance, general administration, home, planning, personnel portfolios and all other departments not allotted to any minister, while there is no change in the departments of Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, who was allotted the jal shakti, transport and language and arts and culture departments.
Shimla district, with seven MLAs, has been given a lion's share in the cabinet with three ministers, while Bilaspur, Mandi, Kullu and Lahaul and Spiti districts are unrepresented. With 10 MLAs, Kangra has got only one cabinet berth. Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Pathania is from Bhatiyyat in Chamba district.
Besides the deputy speaker's post, three berths are still vacant as the maximum number of ministers, including the chief minister, cannot exceed 12.
Of the nine ministers, five are from the Shimla parliamentary constituency, two from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha segment and one each from the Kangra and Mandi parliamentary constituencies. The chief minister has also appointed six chief parliamentary secretaries.