Demands revocation of New Pension Scheme, hike in SPOs honorarium
Srinagar: Welcoming the government initiative of giving service benefits of first five years of stipendiary service to the Rehber-e-Taleem (ReT) teachers and making it transferable, Awami Mutahida Mahaz (AMM) has urged the government to revoke the New Pension Scheme and increase the honorarium of SPOs working the police department.
In a statement issued to KNS, , AMM leaders Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, Hakim Mohammad Yasin, Abdul Rahsid Kabuli and Abdul Rehman Tukroo have appreciated the government decision saying it was an overdue demand of the ReTs which have been met after hectic efforts put in by employees.
The AMM leaders said that the government must scrap New Pension Scheme (NPS) which was implemented in Jammu and Kashmir from 1 January 2010. Not entitling the youth recruited in Jammu and Kashmir on or after January 1, 2010 to pensionary benefits, including pension, family pension and death-cum-retirement gratuity, under the NPS is sheer injustice with the employees who have been recruited after 2010, the AMM observed.
The AMM leaders said that pension is a genuine right of an employee who serves the government for all his life. “Now as the upper age limit for entry into the government job has also been increased to 40 years, it is right time that the government reverts back to the old pension policy. The way flawed new recruitment policy was scrapped, same way government should immediately announce scrapping of NPS,” the AMM leadership remarked.
They recalled services of Special Police Officers (SPOs) home guards and daily wagers but lamented that the government had let them down again. The AMM leaders pleaded the cause of SPOs, demanding their regularization and enhancement in their wages. Highlighting the role of SPOs in law and order situations in the State, the AMM leaders said, “on one side the honorarium of the SPOs is not being enhanced and on the other side they are being disengaged without any logical reason or any prior notice”, adding “around 100 SPOs have lost their livelihood at the hands of some police officers without any fault of theirs”.
Giving credit for the recently announced government decisions to employees who offered immense sacrifices, the AMM leaders demanded that government must now focus on other long pending demands of the employees.
They said the government must address issues pertaining to regularization of daily wagers, causal labourers (drawing regular salaries) and regularizing the salary of casual labours, need based, HDF, KGBV, Prariks, gender coordinator and framing of policy for their regularization, removal of pay anomalies in pre-revised grade of Rs 6500-10500, clerical cadre, horticulture, agriculture and police personnel. The AMM demanded release of 6th pay commission arrears in favour of urban local bodies, municipal corporation employees and regular payment of their salary, budgetary support and revival policy for public sector undertakings to generate employment.