Pratap Bajwa Accuses Government of Backtracking Over Contributory Pension Model
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Political temperatures in Punjab escalated sharply on Friday as Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, leveled serious allegations against the ruling state administration, accusing it of reneging on its foundational electoral commitment to restore the non-contributory Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for government employees. Addressing the media in Chandigarh, Bajwa contended that rather than delivering an authentic defined-benefit pension framework, the government is quietly laying the groundwork to roll out a contributory pension mechanism branded under the guise of a "guaranteed pension" structure. Characterizing the move as an outright betrayal of thousands of state employees who campaigned for the transition, the senior Congress leader asserted that the recent decision to grant a four-month tenure extension to the official review committee exposes a deliberate lack of political will to resolve the longstanding demand.
From 2022 Poll Promises to Extended Panels: Bajwa Questions AAP's Four-Year Delay
Placing the timeline under public scrutiny, Bajwa highlighted that during the run-up to the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party explicitly committed to reinstating the non-contributory pension architecture for the state workforce. He recalled that in August 2021, current Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema—then serving as Leader of the Opposition—had publicly declared that restoring the Old Pension Scheme was a non-negotiable plank of the party's governance blueprint. While the government took an in-principle cabinet decision and issued a formal notification following its electoral victory, Bajwa pointed out that nearly four years have elapsed without operational implementation, questioning why multiple exploratory committees and bureaucratic extensions are still required when a clear policy mandate already exists.
The 10% Contribution Dilemma: Demand for Clarity from Bhagwant Mann and Harpal Cheema
Challenging the structural mechanics of the proposed alternative, Bajwa emphasized that if state employees are still required to contribute 10 percent of their monthly basic pay toward the pension corpus, the scheme cannot fundamentally be equated with the genuine Old Pension Scheme. With the countdown toward the 2027 assembly elections gathering pace, he alleged that the administration is systematically evading its core pledge through semantic shifts and endless procedural delays. Bajwa demanded an unambiguous, public clarification from Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema regarding whether the administration genuinely intends to reinstate the classic non-contributory OPS or settle for a hybrid contributory formula, insisting that government servants deserve decisive administrative action rather than new committee names and shifting goalposts.
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