Vijayapura: Admitting that the New Pension Scheme being implemented for the government employees, is unjustified and does not give any financial security post retirement, Congress MLA and KPCC Campaign Committee Chairman M. B. Patil has announced that his party will implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) if voted to power in the coming Assembly elections next year.
Addressing mediapersons here, he said that NPS has many faults, mainly the money deducted from the salary of the employees is invested in share market.
“Since the share market is volatile, the employees may not get enough money after their retirement as a pension. Considering this, the Congress has decided to include the matter of OPS in our manifesto and will implement it if we come to power,” he said.
Referring to the ongoing border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka over Belagavi, Patil alleged that despite the matter ended decades ago, yet the BJP Government of Maharashtra is raking up the issue deliberately.
The BJP Government is deliberately raising the issue mainly to divert public attention from their failures,” he said.
He warned the BJP Government of Maharashtra that if BJP Government demands Belagavi to be given to Maharashtra, then Karnataka will have to demand several parts of Maharashtra such as South Solapur, Akkalkot and Jath which have sizable Kannadigas.
“Already the local people of Jath and Akkalkot have expressed their desire to join Karnataka. They are unhappy with the Maharashtra Government for not providing better facilities such as schools, water and irrigation. When such is the reality, how will Maharashtra do justice to the people of Belagavi even if it joins Maharashtra,” he asked.
Asserting that all the political parties of the State are united in the matter of protecting Karnataka’s land, culture and language, he appealed to the Chief Minister to call for an all party meeting to discuss the critical issue.