With the resentment among the Andhra Pradesh state government employees gradually brewing over the contributory pension scheme (CPS), the Jagan Mohan Reddy government has finally appointed a five-member committee to resolve the long-pending issue.
A government order (GO 716) was issued on Monday forming the committee.
It will comprise state finance minister Buggana Rajendranath, education minister Botsa Satyanarayana, municipal administration minister Adimulapu Suresh, advisor to the chief minister (public affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy and chief secretary Sameer Sharma.
This committee has been entrusted with the responsibility of holding talks with the representatives of various employees’ unions on the possibility of abolishing the CPS. The new committee was formed after holding discussions with the unions.
The withdrawal of the CPS was one of the major promises made by the chief minister before the 2019 elections. However, the promise remained unresolved in the last three years.
The government has found that there were several difficulties in abolishing the CPS, as it is a Central government decision.
During the recent agitation over the implementation of the Pay Revision Commission, too, the CPS abolition issue came up for discussion and was one of the major demands of the employees.
It remains to be seen how much time the committee will take to complete the exercise and submit its report and when it would be implemented.
An employee union leader said it is unlikely that the issue gets resolved till the next elections!