Rally held, memo submitted in Brahmapur

The Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS)-95 National Agitation Committee affiliated to Nivrutt Karmachari Samanwaya and Lok Kalyan Sansthan led by Kailash Chandra Mishra went in a procession and submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi through the Revenue Divisional Commissioner (Southern Division) here on Monday.

The committee demanded enhancement of monthly pension to Rs 7,500 to the distressed class of employees who were under the ‘EPS-1995’ along with the payment of TI and medical facilities.

The employees who were under the EPS are the most distressed, harassed, and humiliated class of society even though they have rendered their services both in public and private sector undertakings for a long span of 30-40 years and contributed their share from their hard earnings to the Provident Fund authorities under the provisions of EPF and MP Act 1952.

Notably, the EPS, which was introduced in 1995, was funded by diverting 8.3 per cent of the PF contribution and the provision of pension on retirement is linked to the number of years an incumbent put to service and average salary drawn before the superannuation.

However, due to meager payment by way of pension, the scheme has failed to attract the interest of the employees, the memorandum alleged.

Significantly, the pension income of a majority of workers in the country is abysmally low i.e. less than Rs 1,000 which is difficult for a superannuated employee to maintain his family,the memorandum pointed out.Over 60 lakh pensioners all over the country are still waiting for “Achhe Din.”

These distressed pensioners in the country should be paid a monthly pension of Rs 7,500 along with DA and medical insurances to remove disparity, the memorandum added.Among others, committee advisor Kailash Mishra, Prasant Kumar Das, Dr Santosh Kumar Das, Rudra Prasad Padhi, SK Patra, Basudev Choudhury, Balavadra Rajguru and a number of pensioners were present.