Chandigarh, Oct 21 (IANS) In a major decision, the Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday approved restoration of the old pension scheme for the government employees.
A spokesperson for the Chief Minister's Office said a decision to this effect was taken in meeting of Cabinet, with Mann in the chair, here.
The spokesperson said the employees will be given option for adopting the old pension scheme or the new pension scheme. The old pension scheme was discontinued in 2004 and ever since then the employees are being given the new pension scheme.
However, the employees have been since long demanding the restoration of the old pension scheme.
Keeping in view the well-being of the lakhs of employees, the Cabinet has decided to restore the old pension scheme, a major relief to the employees.
Realising that the employees are the backbone of the government, the state has taken this historic decision which is likely to benefit all category of the employees, the spokesperson said.
Also, the Cabinet decided to give six per cent dearness allowance (DA) to government employees and pensioners with effect from October 1.
The Council of Ministers opined that the employees were a critical segment of the state administration and safeguarding their interests was the government's top priority, the spokesperson said.
In a statement released here, Sirsa said he had claimed from day one that the excise policy of Delhi and now of Punjab has been framed to benefit large contractors from whom the AAP wanted to get election funds to contest elections in time to come in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat.
Some of the accused arrested by the Punjab Police have revealed the name of Lawrence Bishnoi as the main culprit who hired them to execute the killing of Moosewala.
In the next five years, the Bhagwant Mann-led government, which is silent on its crucial poll promise of Rs 1,000 allowance for each woman over 18 years, will set up 16 medical colleges. With this, the total number of medical colleges will rise to 25.
During sustained interrogation, the accused persons revealed that they smuggled cigarettes via Cambodia. Earlier, they used to smuggle cigarettes via Dubai but due to heavy restrictions on the route, they changed the route to via Cambodia to bring cigarettes to India.
On the first day of Budget session, the House paid respects to former ministers Hardipinder Singh Badal and Jathedar Tota Singh, besides formers MLAs -- Sukhdev Singh Sukhladhi and Shingara Ram Sahungra.
The White Paper on state's finances is an attempt to simplify the complex issues being faced by the state government and clearly apprising the common man of the present situation inherited by the incumbent AAP government.
