Financial burden eased, says Mani

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:  Finance Minister  K M Mani has said that the pension age  hike to 56 will end  en masse retirement and ease the attendant financial burden in March. “From now on, the retirement of  employees and financial commitment will be on a normal spread round the year in tune with the employee attaining  56 years. Also, as a package, supernumerary posts will be created to prevent loss of jobs, ” Mani said.“The measure will  avoid an administrative breakdown since there would have  been a big vacuum otherwise through largescale retirement,” a top official in the Finance Ministry said. The pension age unification had increased the effective age of  retirement of government employees in the state by nearly a year even when the retirement age stood at 55 years. It was only a matter of time before the pension age went up to a minimum 56 years  as part of  a sensible fiscal policy.“There was a big anomaly induced by pension age unification. When a person attaining 55 years of  age before  March 30 had to go out of service, those who were completing the age limit after April 1 were allowed to continue in the next year. As there are 5.5 lakh employees in the state and an equal number of  pensioners and also that 18,000-plus employees are retiring every year,  a comprehensive view is essential,’’ the official said.Though the pension age issue was discussed on many occasions in the UDF, a final decision was deferred and the CM himself  stated in the Assembly that a decision would be taken only after discussions with youth organisations. It didn’t happen nor the matter was discussed in detail in the Cabinet.The former  LDF Government had unified the pension age but retained 55 years as the age of  retirement and left the financial burden of  around `2,000 crores with the next government. The UDF Government  has resorted to standardisation of the pension age in the prevailing circumstances and minimised the impact of  the burden despite the political heat. Managing the state’s finances effectively  also led to the policy change.Managing the state’s finances effectively  also led to the policy change.