Fast unto death protest if NPS is not cancelled, warns NPS employees
Mangaluru, November 18: As the National Pension Scheme (NPS) is detrimental to the state government employees, they would conduct fast-unto-death protest at the Freedom Park in Bengaluru if the NPS is not cancelled, said NPS employees association general secretary Naganagouda.
Delivering a keynote address at the NPS employees district convention and the 12th executive committee meeting at the SCDCC auditorium here on Sunday, he said that the employees have come to the street due to NPS and have been fighting for abolishing the system. They were not fighting against the government, but for their right.
A retired government bill collector who served for 37 years was getting just Rs 685 monthly pension. But a 98 year old person who served as the primary school teacher for 40 years was getting Rs 22,000 pension. Why such anomaly? The state government should cancel the NPS system and reintroduce the old pension scheme to help the retired employees. They were trying to apprise the government of the need to reintroduce the old system. They have the confidence that the state government would consider their demand. If the government failed to respond to their problem, they would fight about it during the Belagavi Session, he said.
NPS is bogus scheme: Ivan D'Souza
MLC Ivan D'Souza said that the National Pension Scheme would not suit to the government employees as it was a bogus scheme. He would support the fight of the employees. It was the duty of the government to consider the fight. He would raise the issue in the next Session, he said.
MLC Ayanur Manjunath said that he would raise the issue in the Belagavi Session.
MLA Vedavyas Kamath also addressed the employees.
Before the conference, the NPS employees took out a protest march from the government employees Bhavan to SCDCC auditorium. Association district president Ibrahim presided over the programme, in which SCDCC president Dr MN Rajendra Kumar, Association state president Shantaram, Senior vice president Siddappa P, State vice president Chandrahas, KEBA Mangaluru Zonal president Manjappa, representatives of various organizations like Shivashankar Bhat, Swany Thavro, Vittal, Jagadeesh, Dileep Kumar, Hariprasad, H.S. Gurumurthy, Roopa, Adarsh, Prof. Rajashekar Hebbar and others were present.
When MLAs are getting pension, why not you? , asks Bhoje Gowda
In a democratic system, the people's representatives like MLAs, MLCs and MPs were getting the pension in the name of honorarium. But it was a serious question as to why the government employees who serve for most of their life, were not getting the pension? The government should introspect it's decision on forcing the government employees who have come to the street for their rights, said MLC Bhoje Gowda.
Right from the Supreme Court judges to elected representatives, their honorarium was being revised on regular basis. He would be with the government employees in their protest. He would arrange the meeting with the Chief Minister within 15 days, he said.
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Indian mobile hospital treats over 2,200 cyclone-hit people as New Delhi ramps up relief efforts in
Colombo (PTI): A mobile hospital set up by India in Sri Lanka has provided medical care to over 2,200 people affected by Cyclone Ditwah, as New Delhi ramped up its assistance to the flood-ravaged island nation with engineering support and delivery of fresh relief consignments, the Indian mission here said on Sunday.
Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse triggered by the cyclone, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country's disaster-response capacity.
At least 627 people have been killed and 190 remain missing as of Sunday noon due to catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.
Sharing a social media post by the Ministry of External Affairs on its X handle, the Indian High Commission said a field hospital set up by India in Mahiyanganaya near Kandy has provided medical care to more than 2,200 people affected by the cyclone since December 5.
The hospital has also performed 67 minor procedures and three surgeries, it said. The field hospital was airlifted to Sri Lanka by an IAF C-17 aircraft along with a 78-member Indian medical team on Tuesday.
In another post, the mission said Indian Army engineers, working with Sri Lanka Army Engineers and the Road Development Authority, in Kilinochchi have begun removing a damaged bridge on the Paranthan–Karachchi–Mullaitivu (A35) road, a key route disrupted by the cyclone.
"This joint effort marks another step toward restoring vital connectivity for affected communities," it said.
India has additionally sent nearly 1,000 tonnes of food items and clothing contributed by the people of Tamil Nadu. Of these, about 300 tonnes reached Colombo on Sunday morning aboard three Indian Naval ships.
High Commissioner Santosh Jha handed over the supplies to Sri Lankan Minister for Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development Wasantha Samarasinghe.
India, on November 28, launched 'Operation Sagar Bandhu', a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) initiative, to aid Sri Lanka in its recovery from the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah.
Since the launch of the operation, India has provided about 58 tonnes of relief material, including dry rations, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, essential cloths, water purification kits and about 4.5 tonnes of medicines and surgical equipment, the Indian mission said in a press release on Sunday.
Another 60 tonnes of equipment, including generators, inflatable rescue boats, Outboard Motors, and excavators, have also been brought to Sri Lanka, it said, adding that 185 tonnes of Bailey Bridge units were airlifted to restore critical connectivity along with 44 engineers.
Two columns of the National Disaster Response Force, comprising 80 experts and K9 units with specially trained dogs, assisted with immediate rescue and relief efforts in Sri Lanka.
Besides the field hospital in Mahiyanganaya, medical centres have also been set up in the badly hit Ja-Ela region and in Negombo. INS Vikrant, INS Udaygiri, and INS Sukanya provided immediate rescue and relief assistance to Sri Lanka.
Apart from the two Chetak helicopters deployed from INS Vikrant, two heavy-lift, MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force are actively involved in evacuations and airlifting relief material, the release said.
At the request of the Sri Lankan Disaster Management Centre, a virtual meeting was organised between DMC and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s National Remote Sensing Centre on Saturday.
Since the onset of the disaster, ISRO has been providing maps to assist DMC in its rescue efforts, the release said.
