Bank retirees protest for better pension

Around 1,000 bank retirees and pensioners under the guidance of the Coordination of Bank Pensioners and Retirees’ Organisations staged a dharna at Freedom Park on Monday in support of their long-pending demands. They have demanded the government to revise their pension on par with the Central government pensioners.

“The Central government revises pension of its retired employees whenever it implements the Pay Commission for the employees. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pensioners also have got their pension revised twice but the pension of bank retirees is not updated so far,’’ said KV Acharya, president of All India Bank Pensioners & Retirees Confederation.

He said that the government has not done anything to revise the pension of bank retirees despite the apex court’s judgment stating that wage & pension revision is inseparable.

Speaking with Bangalore Mirror, AN Krishnamurthy, convenor of Coordination of Bank Pensioners and Retirees’ Organisations has said that many pensioners are not able to pay the premium of health insurance. “A bank retiree has to pay his three months’ pension towards the premium of health insurance. The premium is Rs 1,07,000 and it is not easy for a retired person to pay such a big amount. Earlier, the premium of health insurance was only Rs 7,000,’’ said Krishnamurthy.

He demanded the government to waive GST on health insurance policy for bank pensioners. “With no revision of pension commensurate with the present day cost of living and maintenance of senior citizens, a steep increase in health insurance premium, levy of GST at 18 percent will have an adverse impact on pensioners,’’ he said.

He said that the organisation demands consultative status with the Indian Banks’ Association, discussing the issues related to bank employees and retirees.