Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the Legislative Council on Thursday that Maharashtra has a debt of Rs 6.5 lakh crore and reviving the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) will result in an additional burden of Rs 1.10 lakh crore per year.
Parties like the Congress are demanding re-introduction of the OPS in place of the New Pension Scheme brought in 2004 by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre. They claim that it is more beneficial for government employees.
Fadnavis was replying to Congress MLC Sudhir Tambe’s question on OPS. Fadnavis said, “Every government wants to make its employees happy. However, it is not possible at present to implement the old pension scheme of 1982. If the plan is implemented, the (state) government will have to take a loan to pay the interest. The revenue deficit is currently very high.”
On the other hand, in another matter in the assembly, Fadnavis said that a total of 26,648 technical and non-technical category three and four posts are vacant in the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited. He said that contract workers cannot be directly recruited into the service, but will be given priority in the recruitment process.
