Agartala, Jan 21:Ahead of assembly polls in Tripura, the Left Front has taken up the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) as one of their main issues and promised to the people to bring back the OPS if voted to power in the State.
Tripura is scheduled to hold assembly polls on February 16.
CPI-M’s Tripura state secretary Jitendra Choudhury said, “OPS is going to be a part of our manifesto in the upcoming polls. We are demanding for OPS for a long time for the government employees.”
Tripura, which has 1.04 lakh government employees and 80,800 pensioners among its 28 lakh voters, making them one of the most important groups.
The OPS was discontinued across India by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government and replaced by the New Pension Scheme (NPS) with effect from 2004.
After Himachal Pradesh became the latest revive the OPS, the scheme has become a poll plank in Tripura.
The CPI-M, which had ruled Tripura for 25 years till 2018, were overthrown by the BJP. Now, the CPI-M has been using several techniques to regain power in Tripura and taken up the issue of OPS.
The only other Left ruled state in the country Kerala still has the NPS for government employees.
Of the other states which have brought back the OPS, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are Congress ruled, while Punjab is run by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
