On the auspicious occasion of Lohri and Makar Sakranti, the State Government headed by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today made a historic decision in the very first Cabinet Meeting by implementing OPS to all the NPS Employees of the State. T
his decision of the State Government will benefit over 1.36 lakh NPS employees of the State.While addressing a Press Conference at Peteroff here today, The Chief Minister said that the State Government has decided to provide OPS to all its NPS Employees to ensure that they live a respectable life after retirement.
He said that this was one of the ten Guarantees given by the Congress Party during the recently concluded Vidhan Sabha elections.Chief Minister said that the aim of the Government is to provide social security to all.
He said that the state government has decided to implement OPS from the point of view of social security and humanity. Affordability of OPS expenditure will be achieved through financial discipline and cutting down on expenses and the Government believes that there is no such thing that cannot be done, he added.
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that a Cabinet Sub Committee has been constituted for finalizing the roadmap for implementation of the promises made by the Congress Party during the elections for creating one lakh employment opportunities in the State.
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that this Cabinet Sub Committee will comprise of Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, with Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi and Education Minister Rohit Thakur.
Chief Minister said that another Cabinet Sub Committee has also been constituted for finalizing the roadmap for implementation of the promises made by the Congress Party during the elections for granting Rs. 1500 to the women in the age group of 18 to 60 years.
He said that this Cabinet Sub Committee will comprise of Health Minister Dr. (Col.) Dhani Ram Shandil Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar and Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh. He said that both these sub committees will submit their reports within a month.
While accusing the previous BJP Government for a heavy debt trap of over Rs. 75000 crore, Chief Minister said that due to the financial mismanagement and wasteful expenditure by the previous BJP Government the State has inherited financial liabilities of Rs. 4430 crore as salary arrears to its employees and Rs. 5226 crore has liabilities of pensioners as pension arrears on the present State Government.
In addition to this, liabilities of about Rs. 1000 crore as DA of employees and pensioners on the present State Government have been left by the previous State Government. In this way the previous State Government has left total financial burden of about Rs. 11,000 crore on the State exchequer.
Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the Centre Government has over Rs. 8000 crore as share of NPS employees. He said that despite all these odds, the State Government has decided to provide old pension scheme to NPS employees so as to secure their retired life.
Chief Minister said that the previous BJP Government in the fag-end of its tenure announced opening and upgradation of about 900 institutions in the State with an eye on the general elections. He said that all these institutions were opened and upgraded with a sole motive to woo voters without any budget provision and irrational thinking.
He said that the State Government has decided to wind up such institutions and all these would be reviewed and if found to be viable and required would be opened after making proper budgetary provisions. He said that it would require another Rs. 5000 crore if all these institutions were to be made functional.
Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri, Health Minister Dr. (Col.) Dhani Ram Shandil, Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi, Education Minister Rohit Thakur, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sanjay Awasthy, Principal Advisor Media to the Chief Minister Naresh Chauhan, Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Bharat Khera, Secretary Finance Dr. Akshay Sood, Director Information and Public Relations Kiran Bhadana were also present on the occasion.