SHIMLA : The restoration of the old pension scheme(OPS) for lakhs of employees, a major vote bank in Himachal Pradesh’s electoral politics, has snowballed into a major political slugfest between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress, both inside the Vidhan sabha and outside the House as thousands of pensioners staged massive protest here today, bringing the capital Shimla city to halt for hours.
Thousands of pensioners of all persuasions converged on Shimla from different parts of the state in their bid to gherao the Vidhan sabha in support of their demand of old pension. They shouted slogans as they assembled at the ISBT and staged march towards the Vidan Sabha on the Cart Road.
The police tried all tricks of trade to prevent them from entering the venue of the protest, but failed. ADC Shimla had banned the entry of vehicles from Boileau Ganj towards Vidhan sabha since yesterday. But the protestors managed to enter the venue by walking and shouted slogans in support of restoration of the OPS. Come what may, we will get OPS, the NGO leaders asserted and blocked the Cart road for hours. The police resorted to water-charging and lathicharge on the pensioners in frigid cold to disperse them, but the police failed and pensioners sat on the spot in protest near the Victory Tunnel.
Many pensioners were hurt and accused the police of beating them for their peaceful protest. The videos of lathicharge have gone viral on social media, lambasting the police action on the pensioners, they charged.
With this massive protest, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur’s government is on the defensive on the issue of OPS. Chief Minister has constituted the committee under the Chief Secretary to examine the issue. There are indications that Jai Ram Thakur may formally declare that the OPS will be restored on March 4 tomorrow in the Vidhan Sabha, when he would present his last Budget of his present tenure.
Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, however, blamed the previous Congress government for not restoring the old pension scheme when it was in power from 2012 to 2017.
But the wary Congress legislators staged walkout on the issue of OPS during the ongoing Budget session of Vidhan sabha today after the Vidhan Sabha Speaker Vipin Parmar refused permission to Kinnaur Congress MLA Jagat Singh Negi to raise the OPS issue in the House. At this, all the Congress MLAs including leader of the opposition Mukesh Agnihotri, former Congress President and Nadaun MLA Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, senior leader Asha Kumari and others rose on their seats and staged walkout. They said they did not have any option other than boycotting the non-cooperative government, which did nothing for the last four years, they told media outside the House.
Congress has promised restoration of the old pension scheme in the state on the lines of the Congress-ruled Rajasthan, where the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot had restored the old pension, when he presented the state Budget in February last month. “When the Congress government comes to power it will restore OPS in Himachal as well”, said the Congress leaders.
Opposition leaders accused the Jai Ram Thakur government of misleading employees and pensioners on the issues of OPS and new pay-scales for the last four years in the state, Jagat Negi said, while talking to the media. Jagat Singh Negi charged that the BJP government was anti-employees, pensioners and anti-farmers and was responsible for stalemate on the issue of OPS and new pay-scales benefits for the state’s employees.
