State employees call off strike after CM’s assurance on OPS

#विधानसभा | #नागपूर | जुन्या पेन्शन योजनेसंदर्भात अंतिम निर्णय अर्थसंकल्पिय अधिवेशनात. कर्मचाऱ्यांची आर्थिक, सामाजिक सुरक्षा जुन्या पेन्शन योजनेप्रमाणे राखली जाईल: मुख्यमंत्री @mieknathshinde यांची विधानसभेत ग्वाही.
अधिकारी कर्मचाऱ्यांनी संप मागे घेण्याचे मुख्यमंत्र्यांचे आवाहन pic.twitter.com/ppuf00iLSj

— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) December 14, 2023

“The Chief minister made concrete announcement about the OPS in his statement. As a result the strike has now been postponed till the Budget session of the state legislature,” said Milind Sardeshmukh, president, Maharashtra State Government Employee Union.

Though state government officials held a meeting with representatives of the employees’ unions Wednesday evening, the talks were inconclusive, following which the unions decided to go ahead with their original plan of going on strike from December 14.

“The state government is committed to the principle of protecting financial and social security of retired employees on the lines of old pension scheme. The government had formed the three-member committee to find a way out of this. The final decision will be in tandem with this principle based on the committee’s report. The final decision will be taken in the budget session of the state legislature,” said Shinde, while appealing the employees to call of the strike.

This was the second strike by Maharashtra government employees demanding OPS.

In March 2023, after a similar strike, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had announced the setting up of a committee comprising former senior bureaucrats Subodh Kumar, K P Bakshi and Sudhir Kumar Shrivastava to study the old and new pension schemes. The panel was asked to submit a report with recommendations in three months. The three-member committee submitted its report to Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar in November 2023.

Speaking at the Legislative Council in the ongoing Winter Session of the state legislature, Ajit Pawar had said that the government was positive on the demand and a decision on OPS was likely before the next budget session after studying the report.

Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister and then finance minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that the government was not opposed to the implementation of OPS, in principle.
The government, he said, wanted to study the effects of its financial burden on the state and would take a decision after doing so.

Maharashtra had become the first BJP-ruled state to positively consider OPS at a time when the Opposition Congress has been demanding it across the country.