After contractors, government employees stage protest at Telangana Secretariat

Chandanagar police busted a child kidnapping racket that operated across Hyderabad, Cyberabad and Sangareddy for five years. Six children, including a five-year-old boy abducted from Lingampally, were rescued. Police arrested five suspects, recovered Rs 5 lakh and handed over the children to officials

Hyderabad: After contractors, government employees staged a protest on the Secretariat premises on Monday, demanding the implementation of the Old Pension System (OPS).

Employees from various departments gathered at the Secretariat’s main entrance and distributed pamphlets pressing for the restoration of OPS. Anticipating trouble, police were deployed at the Secretariat.

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Under the old pension scheme, retired employees received 50 per cent of the last drawn salary as pension, with dearness allowance (DA) revised every six months. In case of the pensioner’s death, the family continued to receive benefits.

However, OPS was discontinued on September 1, 2004, and replaced with the Contributory Pension System (CPS). Under CPS, pension depends on accumulated contributions and annuity purchase, with no minimum pension guarantee or DA benefits, employees pointed out.

Before the Assembly elections, the Congress had promised employees that OPS would be restored if voted to power.

With Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy scheduled to conduct a review meeting on recent rains and damages at the Secretariat, police officials remained on alert.