Employee Union accuses Board Management of arbitrariness, warns of agitation if Old Pension Scheme is not implemented
Tension is brewing within the Electricity Board as employees express their anger over the failure to restore the old pension scheme. The employees’ union has issued a warning, stating that they will stage a protest on May 25th at the Board Headquarters, Kumar House in Shimla. Accusing the board management of arbitrariness, the union officials expressed disappointment as the proposal to restore the old pension was not included in the recent service committee meeting held at the state secretariat.
Union representatives have raised concerns about the bureaucracy’s failure to implement the decision made by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Moreover, they strongly oppose the deduction of the National Pension System (NPS) share from their May salaries. The Employees Union and Technical Employees Union of the Board have issued a joint warning, threatening to take to the streets if the old pension scheme is not reinstated promptly. They highlight that approximately 9,000 employees would be affected by the non-restoration of the old pension.
Following the decision to restore the old pension, the employees’ union held a virtual meeting on Sunday to strategize their approach in challenging the board management. Kameshwar Dutt Sharma, the state president of the union, alleged that the board management is intentionally delaying the matter, despite the Chief Minister’s orders. The service committee meeting held on Saturday could have resolved the issue and implemented the old pension in the Electricity Board, but no decision was taken. This has caused widespread dissatisfaction among the employees. Sharma emphasized that the old pension scheme has been implemented in all other state government undertakings, except for the Electricity Board.
Hiralal Verma, the union’s general secretary, expressed concern about the deduction of the NPS share from employees’ salaries in April. Considering the delay in resolving this matter, it appears that the NPS deduction may continue in May as well. Verma stated that salary preparations for Board employees in field offices begin before the 25th of each month. If the orders to restore the old pension in the Electricity Board are not issued before May 25th, the employees are prepared for a fierce agitation.
In a press statement issued on Sunday, Laxman Kapta, the State President of the Electricity Board Technical Employees Union, and Nekram Thakur, the General Secretary, warned that if the board management does not make a decision on restoring the old pension soon, the Technical Employees Union will move towards agitation in the near future. The union reiterated its demand to the Himachal Pradesh government, urging them to extend the benefits of the old pension scheme to all board employees, aligning with the state government employees.
The union criticized the electricity board management for their negative attitude towards this issue, accusing them of not taking it seriously. They emphasized that it is the responsibility of officers to implement government schemes and that the board management’s arbitrary actions will no longer be tolerated.
Citing the restoration of the old pension scheme by the Road Transport Corporation (RTC) for its employees, the Technical Employees Union argued that the electricity board management should have made a similar decision during the service committee meeting. The union officials demanded that the electricity board management treat this matter with the seriousness it deserves and extend the old pension scheme to all employees of the Electricity Board.
