UPS anti-employee scheme, Cong will implement OPS after winning Haryana polls: Deepender Hooda

Chandigarh: Terming the Centre's Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) "anti-employee", Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda asserted his party will come to power in Haryana after the October 1 assembly elections and implement the Old Pension Scheme in the state.

"And the UPS is a bigger fraud with government employees than the NPS (New Pension Scheme)," Hooda said in Jhajjar on Tuesday.

He attended an event where wrestler Aman Sehrawat, who won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics, was felicitated in Birohad village in Jhajjar.

The Union Cabinet approved the UPS on August 24, announcing an assured pension of 50 per cent of the basic salary for those who joined service after January 1, 2004. Employees opting for the UPS would be eligible for an assured pension after service of 25 years.

Hooda claimed the Congress will form the government in Haryana after the assembly polls and fulfil government employees' demand for implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

The UPS and the NPS "are anti-employee schemes". "And the UPS is a bigger fraud with government employees than the NPS," he said.

"A limit of 25 years of service has been fixed for full pension in the UPS. The biggest loss will be for paramilitary forces' personnel. Those personnel who retire before 25 years of service (VRS) will have to bear heavy losses. In such a situation, they will get only a meagre pension of Rs 10,000," a statement quoted Hooda as saying.

The Congress MP further said that when the NPS was implemented, it was said to be better than the OPS and now the UPS is being promoted the same way.

"The truth is that employees will not even receive 10 per cent of their contribution under the UPS. Employees will get half of their basic salary as pension after removing DA (dearness allowance). But in five years, the share of DA usually becomes equal to or more than the basic salary. So, pension under the UPS will be halved," Hooda said.

He said employees across the country and the state have been demanding implementation of the OPS.

Under the OPS, effective before January 2004, employees got 50 per cent of their last drawn basic pay as pension.

Unlike the OPS, the UPS is contributory in nature. Under the UPS, employees will be required to contribute 10 per cent of their basic salary and DA while the employer's contribution will be 18.5 per cent.