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New Delhi: More than 50,000 pensioners who retired from state-run coal PSUs are receiving a pension of less than Rs 1,000 per month, said the All Indian Coal Pensioners Association (AICPA) & All India Association of Coal Executives (AIACE) in a statement on Monday as they started a one-month long dharna to protest demand pension revision for coal pensioners. "All Indian Coal Pensioners Association (AICPA) & All India Association of Coal Executives (AIACE), in association with other coal miners pensioners and welfare organisations, have started one month long dharna wef 25/7/2022 at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, for review of CMPS 1998 and revision of pension for coal miners thereof."
"Coal pensioners from across the country — like Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pardesh, Delhi and other states — have gathered at Jantar Mantar from today and participated in relay dharna which will end by 31st August, 22," said the associations.
After the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1973, employees in coal PSUs got the benefit of a pension scheme in 1998. The scheme covered pensioners from Coal India Ltd (CIL), Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL) and few other coal companies. Under CMPS-1998, the Coal Mines Provident Fund Organisation (CMPFO), working under the Ministry of Coal, was entrusted with this task. A pension fund was created by equal contributions from emplyees and employer. There was a provision to review after every three years but it was never done regularly, coal pensioners' associations said. "The review and revision has not been done for the last 24 years and more than 50,000 pensioners are getting less than Rs 1,000 per month, which is quite insufficient to meet daily needs," they added.
"This lack of review has caused mismanagement of the fund. The scheme also failed to take into consideration the scenario where contribution from employees reduced due to the introduction of high yield mechanisation and slowly reduction of manpower from about 7 lakh (at the time of the implementation of the scheme) to about 3.5 lakh as of now," said the associations.
The amount fixed on the date of retirement of coal pensioners remains same till date since its implementation in 1998, even after 24 years.
"The coal pensioners desire and demand upward revision of pension at the earliest. Moreover, an employee in the same grade but retiring at a later date enjoys higher pension compared to an equally ranked employee retiring earlier. We also want this issue to be resolved by implementing ONE RANK – ONE PENSION rule," said the statement.
"For the resolution of our grievances, so far we have approached 89 Member of Parliaments, including the Hon'ble Prime Minister, Coal Minister and others. And 48 Members of Parliament have written recommendation letters to the Coal Minister. In spite of all these efforts, there is no ray of any hope towards solving the misery of pensioners in the coal sector," said the statement.
"It is a bitter truth that, past decisions and present indecisions, have made enhancement of pension a nightmare and a distant dream for pensioners leading to the demise of many elderly pensioners every year. In view of these stated facts, to draw the attention of the government and its various agencies, we are on a spree of relay Dharna at Jantar Mantar from 25th July, 2022 and intend to extend it up to 31st August, so that the revision and enhancement of pension of we pensioners can be hastened without any further delay," said the associations.
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