Baghel meets Modi, offers condolences on his mother’s demise

NEW DELHI: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital to offer condolences on the death of the latter's mother.

Taking to Twitter, Baghel said that during the meeting, the two also discussed the welfare and growth of people of Chhattisgarh. They also spoke on the Maoist situation in the state in detail.

"I also told him about how the state government schemes for employment for women, agriculture, etc are making an impact," Baghel said. Recently, Baghel announced that the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) will be brought back for the state government employees in his budget speech.

The Centre, however, refused the state's demand to refund the Rs 17,000 crore plus deposited in the New Pension Scheme (NPS).

Meanwhile, the Chhattisgarh government has given the option to choose between OPS and NPS to all government employees and ruled that all employees who were appointed after April 2022 will be compulsory members of the OPS.

Also, the Chhattisgarh government has presented an option to employees appointed before April 1, 2022, to remain in the NPS or to join the OPS.

For this, the employees will have to submit an affidavit. If an employee opts for the OPS, he or she has to deposit the government's contribution and dividend in the NPS account from November 1, 2004, to March 31, 2022, to the state government.

At the same time, employee contributions and dividends deposited in NPS during this period will be given to government employees under NPS rules.

According to the decision of the Council of Ministers, retired government servants will also have to deposit the contribution of the government deposited in NPS in the state government account to take advantage of the old pension scheme.