Pension accounts for about 8 lakh UP govt employees opened since 2017 CM Adityanath

Lucknow, Jul 31 (PTI) Since 2017, when the BJP government was formed in Uttar Pradesh, pension accounts for approximately 8 lakh state government employees have been opened, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said here on Wednesday.
    "The NPS (New Pension Scheme) was originally implemented in 2005 during the tenure of the SP government led by Mulayam Singh Yadav. Despite the BSP being in power from 2007 to 2012 and the SP from 2012 to 2017, not a single pension account was opened for employees during those periods," Adityanath said in the Legislative Council.
    The chief minister said that upon discovering issues with the pension accounts, his administration formed a committee chaired by the then finance secretary in 2018.
    The committee suggested that it was essential for the government to increase its contribution slightly to provide 60 per cent of the employee's last drawn salary as pension, he said.
    Assessments indicated that if both the government and employees deposited money on time and connected their contributions to a scheme, employees could receive approximately 60 per cent of their money as pension after retirement, Adityanath said.
    "To address this, the government's share in the pension scheme was increased from 10 per cent to 14 per cent. The accounts of all employees were opened and contributions from 2005 to 2017, which had not been deposited due to absence of accounts, were also credited," he added.
    Adityanath said that approximately 70,000 employees, who were in the final stages of appointment when the NPS was implemented in 2005, have been retained under the Old Pension Scheme, with many of these employees being teachers.
    He also addressed concerns about the NPS funds being deposited in private banks, saying these complaints have been taken seriously.
    The chief minister said efforts were underway to ensure return of these funds and emphasised that it is a priority for the government to ensure that money from any government scheme is deposited only in nationalised banks.
    Earlier, Adityanath congratulated Lal Bihari Yadav on becoming the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)