Mumbai: Just ten days after it decided to offer the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) to state employees covered under the New Pension Scheme (NPS), the poll-bound Maharashtra govt caved under pressure from employee unions and will also offer the revised pension scheme as an option.
Hence, now state employees will have a choice between the NPS, UPS, and revised pension scheme.The state has around 13.5 lakh employees, of which around 8.2 lakh are covered under the NPS.
On Aug 25, the state cabinet had announced the UPS as an alternative to the NPS. However, employee unions were unhappy and had threatened a strike if the revised pension scheme announced by chief minister Eknath Shinde in the state assembly in March was not implemented.
The revised pension scheme was suggested by the Subodh Kumar committee commissioned by the govt. In the UPS, the pension is based on 50% of the average salary over 12 months. In the revised pension scheme, it is based on 50% of the last drawn salary. Also, the UPS requires the employee to have 25 years of service.
“We prefer the revised pension scheme because if the employee has been promoted and has a wage hike just before retirement, then the pension will take into account his last drawn salary,” Vinod Desai from Maharashtra State Gazetted Employee’s Federation said.
He further said that Shinde had announced the implementation of the revised pension scheme in the assembly after holding talks with the unions. However, the cabinet decided to implement the UPS without consulting the unions, he added. “Our views should have been taken into account especially since we had earlier been told that the revised pension scheme would be implemented,” said Desai.
Shinde said, “All the officers and employees are part of the govt. It is our feeling that everyone should get justice, sustainable pension. Govt is true to its word and will not allow the officers and employees to suffer.”