Shimla, Sep (PTI) Himachal Pradesh pensioners on Tuesday staged a protest near the Vidhan Sabha here against the alleged non-payment of their outstanding dues and various other demands. They demanded the government immediately clear their dues and immediately start talks with them.
Hundreds of pensioners participated in the protest and raised slogans against the state government. They also had a heated argument with the police personnel deployed at the site.
Addressing the protest, Neelam Chauhan, vice president of the State’s Pensioners’ Association, said that they have been raising their demands for the past three years but their issues remain unresolved and the promises made to them by the government have not been fulfilled.
She said that despite
the inclement weather, a large number of pensioners gathered outside the Assembly. She claimed that sometimes the government talks about giving benefits to pensioners aged 70 to 75 years and sometimes it talks about making payments to pensioners above 65 years of age, whereas no clear decision has been taken on other pending liabilities of the pensioners.
“Pensioners are demanding their hard-earned money and legal rights after a lifetime of service. However, the government is not releasing the pending dues of pensioners,” she said.
Bhup Ram Verma, the general secretary of the association, said that the key demands include payment of 16 per cent DA, post-2016 pay revision liabilities, revised pension arrears, leave encashment, and other pending financial benefits.
Verma said that the way the pensioners had come to the Assembly despite the inclement weather gave hope that the government would seriously consider their demands. He warned that if the government did not meet their demands, the agitation would be further escalated. PTI/COR MNK MNK
