New Delhi, Aug 23: The Confederation of Central Government Employees and workers today condemned the government decision to introduce a contributory pension scheme for new entrants and threatened to go on strike if it was not withdrawn. "The confederation condemns this anti-employee decision of the Government of India and demands that the said decision be withdrawn forthwith", the Secretary General of the Union S K Vyas told a news agency. He said that confederation was of the view that this is only a precursor of further curtailment of terminal benefits of the Central Government Employees like commutation of pension, gratuity etc. "In the circumstance, the central government employees are left with no alternative but to tread the path of agitation and strike in the face of such onslaught", Vyas said. Vyas described as unfortunate the government's proposal to withdraw the existing pensionary benefits to the central government employees that were in existence for almost a century and replace it with a contributory pension scheme for those who would be inducted in government service from October 1, 2002.

Bureau Report