Himachal Pradesh govt stops NPS contributions to implement OPS

Shimla: In a step to implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the Himachal Pradesh government has decided to stop its contributions including those of its employees to the National Pension Scheme (NPS) from April 1, 2023.

“The share of the National Pension System of 1.36 lakh employees of Himachal will not be deducted from April 1. The finance department has issued a notification on Monday regarding this decision taken in the cabinet meeting last week,” a senior inance department official said.

Earlier this year the Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu government took a big step towards the restoration of old pensions in the state as promised in the election manifesto. Two Congress-ruled states of Rajasthan and Chattisgarh had already restored the OPS beside the AAP government in Punjab.

“Now soon the SOP for restoration of old pensions will be issued. Employees will be asked to give options to choose either of the two pensions,” said the official.

In NPS, every month 10 per cent share was given by the employee and 14 per cent by the government.

In the first cabinet meeting after the formation of the government, the old pension restoration was approved in principle. The cabinet in its meeting held recently had taken a decision to not give NPS shares to the employees and the government from April 1.

In this series, on Monday, the Finance Department issued a notification to restore the old pension under the CCS Pension Rules, 1972. It has also been decided to ban the share deducted under the National Pension System. NPS money is deposited in PFRDA under the central government. Under this fund, Rs 8,000 crore of Himachal Pradesh is deposited with the Centre.