Relay hunger strike for restoration of old pension scheme by Railway Mazdoor Union

Railway employees launch relay hunger strike demanding scrapping of NPS & restoration of old pension scheme.

Several Railway employees participated in the launch of relay hunger strike outside the offices of Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) and the Central Railway Workshop on Mananthavadi Road near here demanding the scrapping of the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and restoration of old pension scheme under the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules 1972.

The relay hunger strike organised by South Western Railway Mazdoor Union, which began on Monday, is expected to continue till January 11 in front of the office of Divisional Railway Manager (DRM) and Central Railway Workshop of Mysuru south office on Mananthavadi Road in the City.

The Central government adopted the NPS with effect from January 1, 2004, in place of the pension under CCS (Pension) Rules 1972 for all Central government employees, recalled the Union president K. Manjunatha and Union Secretary M. Yathiraju in a statement here.

“The view behind this was that the economic burden for the pensioners was too huge for the government to manage. Same formula was adopted by all the State governments also one by one. The government brought the new idea, which was projected as a win-win formula for all, but the reality came out when people appointed after January 1, 2004 started getting retired,” the statement said adding that the retired employees were getting a “meagre” pension.

The All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF) and its affiliated unions were regularly protesting against NPS since 2004 and formed a Joint Forum for Restoration of Old Pension Scheme (JFROPS), which had organized several protests, rallies, processions, dharnas, seminars etc.

The relay hunger strike from January 8 to 11 is part of the series of protests that had been organized so that the government “sympathetically” and “favourably” considers the demand to scrap NPS and restore the pension under Central Civil Services (Pension) rules 1972 for all Central and State government employees and teachers, the statement said.

The protest is aimed at bringing back the Statutory Non-Contributory Pension to all government employees appointed on or after January 2004, added a statement.