No DA relief under consideration for EPS, says RTI reply

Nagpur: Amid a section of employees who have contributed towards provident fund on their salary over and above the ceiling limit getting a chance of higher pension now, an RTI reply clarifies that there is no scope for increasing the minimum pension at present.
"No proposal to provide dearness allowance (DA) to pensioners under Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) is being considered either," says the reply.
Replying to a query by Gurugram's Parveen Kohli asking whether there is a possibility of increasing the minimum pension, which is fixed at 1,000 now, the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has said no such proposal is under consideration. The EPFO says the matter comes under the ministry of labour and employment.
Kohli had asked if there is any proposal to give any DA relief on pension on the pattern of what was provided during 1996-97 to 1999-2000. The answer was 'no'. The RTI reply dated February 3 was shared by EPS Coordination Committee, an association of pensioners in Nagpur.
The reply also says that a proposal of providing facilities under Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) is under consideration.
The minimum pension matters to employees whose salaries are within the wage ceiling. From 2014, the ceiling has been fixed at 15,000, before that it was 6,500 a month. Those having retired before 2014 may not get a pension more than 3,250, and it's 7,500-odd after the ceiling has been hiked to 15,000. A minimum pension of 1,000 was fixed as the less-paid workers got pension even below that, making it a pittance.
DA relief helps in matching the inflation. However, as the EPFO has denied of any such proposal being considered, it means that the pension would remain the same and not increase with time at least in the present conditions.