Congress members corner their own govt on OPS

Bengaluru: The Congress government in the state came under attack from its own members in the Legislative Council on Thursday for not keeping up the promise made in the election manifesto.

Ruling party member Ramoji Gowda raised the issue of the manifesto announcement to consider the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in the state and urged the government to implement it.

“Over 2,188 people who were under NPS (New Pension Scheme) and had retired receive meagre pension. Incidentally, they had worked under the NPS for more than 10 years. Our party should stick to its manifesto. Other
states have already implemented the OPS,” Gowda added.

Replying to him, Leader of the House N S Boseraju said, “We are awaiting further report on the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) by the committee headed by additional chief secretary to take decision on reverting Karnataka government employees under NPS to the OPS.”

However, the minister didn’t give a time-bound assurance on the issue.

“The Centre is looking for a common scheme. The decision is being taken whether there should be a unified system for the country or should states have their own,” Boseraju stated.

Meanwhile, Congress Manifesto Committee Chairman and Home Minister G Parameshwara said, “Yes, we agreed in principle and we are going to implement it. But there are some procedures as it has financial implication of crores of rupees. The Centre has also realised the issue.”