'Expect hike in minimum pension to Rs 7.5K/month under EPS-95'

Pensioners under EPS-95 may get a minimum of Rs 5,000 a month as interim relief, and Rs 7,500 eventually, in view of the assurances by the labour ministry, the organisation pushing for the cause said today.

The pension is Rs 1,000 a month at present, provided under the Employees' Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95) managed by the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

The All India EPS-95 Pensioners Sangharsh Samiti said in a statement that the labour minister had assured its delegation, on December 6, 2017, of meeting its demands.

It said the minister had assured the Samiti that their demands including a minimum pension of Rs 7,500 would be taken up for discussion with the Prime Minister as well as the finance ministry.

It had demanded that all the 60 lakh pensioners under the EPS-95 scheme should be provided with a minimum monthly pension of Rs 7,500 and as an interim relief, all of them should be given Rs 5,000 per month.

The Samiti said the Parliamentary Consultative Committee on Labour also discussed their demands in their meeting held on January 5.

There are around 60 lakh pensioners out of which around 40 lakh are getting less than Rs 1,500 per month at a time when the government has about Rs 3 lakh crore of pension funds, the Samiti had said earlier.