Punjab Cabinet approves implementation of old pension scheme
Darpan News Desk IANS, 18 Nov, 2022 02:07 PM
Chandigarh, Nov 18 (IANS) Eyeing Gujarat elections, the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government on Friday approved the notification for implementing the old pension scheme (OPS) in Punjab, directly benefitting more than 1.75 lakh government employees.
A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of the council of Ministers held under the leadership of the Chief Minister here.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said the government has approved the OPS for its employees currently covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS), fulfilling a long-pending demand of employees of the state.
This will directly benefit more than 1.75 lakh employees currently covered under NPS. In addition to this, 1.26 lakh employees are already covered under the existing OPS.
The scheme is aimed at safeguarding the future of government employees and recognising their contribution towards the state. In order to ensure that the scheme being introduced is financially sustainable for the exchequer in the future also, the government will be contributing proactively towards creation of a pension corpus which will service the pension in future to the beneficiaries of the scheme.
This contribution towards the pension corpus will be Rs 1,000 crore per annum initially and will gradually increase in future.
Besides, the current accumulated corpus with NPS is Rs 16,746 crore for which the state will request Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of the government of India to refund this amount for effective utilisation at its end.
Mann said in another significant decision, the state government has now decided to appoint Chief Minister Field Officers as Nodal Officers for NRIs to ensure redressal of their grievances. He said that these officers will prove to be an ideal Nodal Officer for NRIs as they will be effectively able to coordinate across departments and districts, besides having a direct communication with the Chief Minister's Office.
The passengers were later identified as Moshin Khan Saifi and Asim. Saifi was supposed to travel from Delhi to Hyderabad by Vistara Flight, whereas Asim was supposed to travel from Delhi to Dubai by Air India Express flight.
The official said that at about 4 pm, CISF staff at Terminal-3 noticed suspicious activities of a passenger in the check-in area. The passenger was later identified as Misam Raza, who was about to fly to Dubai on a SpiceJet flight. Raza was then diverted to the random checking point for a thorough checking of his luggage.
The arrested accused have been identified as Vikas Bhadana, Paras Sood, Thachang Tungshanao, Avinash, Ram Basua and Abhislash Singh, the call centre manager. While the call centre and house owner has been identified as Sachin Taneja.
A SAD delegation led by its president Sukhbir Singh Badal met Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and handed over a memorandum stating that the Chief Minister and the Excise Minister have violated the provisions of the Official Secrets Act by making official files of the state available to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and MP Raghav Chadha, besides private persons.
The location of another plotter, Anmol Bishnoi, has also been traced to Kenya. The Bishnois had fled India before the daylight killing of Moosewala on May 29 in the Moosa village in Mansa district. It is believed that Sachin, a nephew of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, and Brar hatched the conspiracy to kill the famed Punjabi singer.
