File Photo | Image Source: X
Guwahati, Feb 26: As the demand for retention of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) increases among state government employees, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday asserted that the government will go bankrupt if the New Pension Scheme (NPS) is replaced by the OPS.
On the final day of the Assam Budget Session, the OPS-NPS issue was raised in the Assam Legislative Assembly. Speaking about replacing the OPS with the NPS, CM Sarma said, “If pensions continue to be paid according to the OPS, the economic condition of the state will be in a worse position.”
He said, “There are around 4 lakh government employees in the state, of which 1,75,998 are under OPS and around 2,85,000 under NPS. About 1.5 lakh of them were employed during the BJP regime. Employees who are young have never protested against the NPS. The central government employees have never protested against the NPS-OPS.”
Unhappy with the response of the chief minister, the opposition walked out of the assembly and protested with “NPS is not required, OPS is needed” placards outside the house.
On this, Congress MLA and Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said, “The CM has distortedly answered Akhil Gogoi’s question on OPS on the last day of the session. The Chief Minister says this is a problem in the education department with the new recruits, as their pensions were approved as per NPS and cannot be replaced. The government has announced that it will not provide OPS in Assam.”
CPI (M) MLA Manoranjan Talukdar said, “The chief minister said employees will get more money in NPS. If OPS is implemented, the government will go bankrupt in 5 years. However, the employees have not been able to establish confidence in NPS. We demand the cancellation of NPS and the retention of OPS.”