The government employees demanding the CPS rollback had planned the Million March for 1 September, but it was postponed to 11 September.
Ministers Botsa Satyanarayana, Buggana Rajendranath, and Adimulapu Suresh hold talks with government employees' unions. (Supplied)
In a major relief to the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh, the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) employees blinked on Thursday, 8 September, and decided to withhold the Million March they had planned for 11 September.
According to the original plan, the government employees demanding rollback of the CPS had proposed to take out the Million March on 1 September, but it was postponed to 11 September.
The CPS employees now want to wait and watch before they announce their future course of action.
The resounding success of such a march in February by the government employees demanding better pay had pushed the government to act tough with the CPS employees and do the firefighting early.
The success of the 11 February “Chalo Vijayawada” rally, in which lakhs participated, embarrassed the Andhra Pradesh government, leading to the ouster of the then DGP Gautam Sawang because he failed to avert the march.
This time, the government was clear on its stance about the abolition of CPS.
The members of the Cabinet sub-committee appointed by the government — which includes Education Minister Botsa Satyanarayana, and is conducting talks with the employees’ union — openly said it was not possible to roll back the CPS, and that the employees should accept the Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS) proposed by the government.
“We had given assurances on the abolition of the CPS if we came to power with an oversight. Almost 95 percent of the promises made by the party before the polls in the manifesto have been fulfilled. Not being able to roll back the CPS was one of the 5 percent of the promises we could not deliver on,” said Satyanarayana.
“The abolition of the CPS is not possible. Instead, we have given some additional benefits in the GPS. Employees should take the GPS. Reverting to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) is impossible in the current situation. They should understand this,” he added.
The state government, while proposing the GPS on 25 April, appointed the aforementioned Cabinet sub-committee to look into the possibilities of abolishing the CPS, after holding discussions with the representatives of several employee unions.
Besides Satyanarayana, the has Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath, government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, and Chief Secretary Sameer Sharma.
The GPS offers a guaranteed fixed pension at 33 percent of the basic pay, drawn at the time of retirement, compared to the current fluctuating CPS rate of 20 percent, thereby leading to an increase of at least 53 percent in the pension annuity.
However, the employees’ unions argued that GPS was no better than the CPS, and that a similar plan to guarantee 50 percent pension — recommended by the Thakkar Committee during the previous N Chandrababu Naidu government — was also rejected.
Determined to thwart the attempts to hold a Million March, the police conducted a flag march in the last week of August in Vijayawada, with around 350 APSP and AR police personnel.
Vijayawada City Commissioner of Police Kanti Rana Tata has already said that prohibitory orders under Section 144 CrPC and Section 30 of the Police Act are in force in the city.
The police across the state also registered several cases against the employees over the past few days, while seizing their vehicles.
The request by the Andhra Pradesh Contributory Pension Scheme Employees Association (APCPSEA) to the state DGP seeking permission to conduct the Million March on 11 September was also rejected.
“We met the DGP and sought permission to hold the rally. The permission was denied. The government has started using pressure and intimidation tactics by booking some of us for severe offences. In the interest of the families of the lakhs of employees, we have decided to temporarily halt the Million March programme,” APCPSEA state president R Appala Raju told South First.
“The government’s GPS proposal is not at all acceptable. The CPS should be rolled back and we should be reverted to the OPS. We will come up with an action plan shortly,” he added.
Of the approximate 4.45 lakh government employees in Andhra Pradesh, more than half come under the CPS, which came into effect after 2004. The employees that come under the OPS also announced support for the CPS employees.
