United News of India
New Delhi, Apr 2:6 Strongly denying the media reports that Central Government is contemplating to reduce the age of retirement of government employees to 50 years, the Union Minister of State Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh on Sunday categorically stated that there was no such move or proposal in this regards.
“There are certain motivated elements which have been over the last few days, time and again planting such disinformation in a section of media and attributing it to the government sources or DoP&T” he said, adding that each time a prompt rebuttal has been made to clear the confusion in the minds of stakeholders.
Dr Singh further said that it was unfortunate that at a time when the country is going through Corona crises and the entire world is praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his proactive handling of the pandemic, there were certain elements and vested interests which try to underplay all the good work done by the Government by planting such media stories.
On the contrary, right from the beginning of the emergence of the Corona challenge, Government and the DoP&T have, from time to time taken prompt decisions to safeguard the interests of the employees.
Considering the constraints of the lockdown, he recalled that DOPT had postponed the last date for filling of the Annual Performance Appraisal Report (APAR) by the government officials.
Referring to the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) decision to reschedule the dates of IAS/Civil Services interview/personality test and also announced that the Civil Services Preliminary Test will be done after May 3, the Minister said that on the same line, Staff Selection Commission has also postponed its process of recruitment.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that last week there was fake news that the government had decided to impose a 30 percent reduction in the pension and discontinue pensions for those who are above the age of 80 but contrary to this, the truth is that on March 31 there was not a single pensioner whose pension did not deposit in his account. Not only this, services of the Postal Department were sought to deliver the pension amount at the residence of the pensioners, whenever required.
