CS presides over the meeting of the Committee on NPS employees demands
The Chief Secretary RD Dhiman today presided over the meeting of the committee constituted on the demands of NPS employees. Various issues related to NPS employees were discussed in detail, during the meeting.
It was informed in the meeting that since the attainment of full statehood status to Himachal Pradesh in the year 1971, the service rules of the Central Government had been implemented by the State Government for its employees and various states including Himachal had implemented the National Pension System on the lines of the central government for their employees.
Chief Secretary said that the present state government has provided many benefits to about 1.15 lakh NPS employees after the year 2018. Government’s contribution under the scheme has been increased from 10 percent to 14 percent with effect from April 1, 2019.
Due to this, NPS employees are getting additional benefit of Rs 175 crore annually. The government’s annual contribution for NPS employees has now reached Rs 911 crore, which was Rs 260 crore in the year 2017-18. This will enable these employees to get more pension after their retirement.
Provision of family pension or invalid pension has also been made to the NPS employees, since the year 2003, on the lines of other employees, by the state government
It was informed in the meeting that the NPS employees who were left out between the year 2003 to 2017 have been given the benefit of gratuity and Rs 110 crore were spent on it. The enhanced gratuity benefit was also given to NPS employees on the lines of other employees in the state. The Central Government has provided various income tax exemptions to the NPS personnel and the final withdrawal has been made completely tax free. 40 percent of annuity purchases have also been made completely tax free.
It was decided in the meeting that the government would take necessary action on the problems and demands of the NPS employees. It was also informed in the meeting that NPS is based on the scheme implemented by the Central Government and if Central government makes any change in this scheme in future, the State Government will follow that pattern immediately.
During the meeting, many members raised the issue of the lack of proper information among the NPS employees regarding the investments, stock market and possible returns of the scheme.
The committee decided that an internal advisory group headed by Deputy Commissioner Mandi Arindam Chaudhary would be constituted on this issue. This group will share information about past returns, various investment instruments and potential investment opportunities by issuing internal advisory from time to time, at least every quarter.
Secretary Finance Prabodh Saxena, Vice President Himachal Pradesh Employees/Workers Welfare Board Ghanshyam Sharma President Non-Gazetted Employees Federation Ashwani Thakur, General Secretary Rajesh Sharma, President New Pension Scheme Employees Federation Pradeep Thakur, General Secretary Bharat Sharma and other officers of the Finance Department were also present in the meeting.
