Prime Minister (PM) KP Sharma Oli has said that the government is positive toward the scheme of voluntary retirement of government employees.
During a meeting with chairman of the official trade union and representatives of the organizations close to political parties, PM Oli has reiterated that the government is positive toward resolving the issue of voluntary retirement of employees through holding discussions.
"We held a discussion with the prime minister on the issues related to voluntary retirement, federal employees act and their deployment," Chairperson of the Official Trade Union Punya Prasad Dhakal told Setopati, "PM is positive toward concluding the whole issue through dialogue."
Stating that a serious discussion should be held on voluntary retirement of employees, PM Oli said that employees will soon be mobilized to the local bodies short of staffers.
"We need to discuss whether all employees can be given voluntary retirement or not as the state coffer is almost empty," Dhakal said quoting PM Oli, "Problem may arise if the government cannot provide pension of seven years to the employees. So it is important to hold discussion in order to take necessary decision."
A total of 9,656 officials including five secretariats, unwilling to continue their work or be deployed to provincial and local levels, have applied for voluntary retirement as per the Employees Integration Act 2017 brought by the government.
The government has not moved the process of voluntary retirement scheme forward due to lack of employees and financial condition. More than 1,300 staffers have already been retired and around 1,700 more have to be retired in the next 11 months or so.
The employees have been meeting PM Oli and General Administration Minister Lal Babu Pandit who have been saying that voluntary retirement cannot be given, and urging them to not violating the Employees Integration Act.
Earlier, the office-bearers of the official trade union had met with the Finance Minister Yuba Raj Khatiwada and asked whether the government can financially afford the voluntary retirement scheme. Minister Khatiwada had said other reasons have delayed the process instead of financial condition.
Similarly, Minister Pandit has been urging those employees who are unwilling to continue their works to discontinue the jobs. The ministry is also preparing to mobilize those officials who have also furnished the voluntary retirement application. The Ministry has said that it is mobilizing employees in the local levels by bringing the projects of letting both spouses to work at the same place if possible.
The ministry has been arguing that it cannot offer voluntary retirement when the local bodies that require 36,000 staffers are short by 10,000 and Minister Pandit has already asked the staffers who do not want to work to resign.
However, the employees have been saying that the ministry is going against the Employment Adjustment Act by not publishing the employees list on March 26.
Section Officer at Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Mitra Prasad Khatiwada accused the government of going against the act that it had brought and said the government should appoint techno-friendly employees to bring efficiency in jobs by providing retirement to the employees who have no zeal of continuing the jobs.
"The ministry has not yet given the details of employees . The process is being delayed by showing many excuses," he said," Although the Department of Information has written to the ministry, the ministry is only circulating the letter to other sections. There's no alternative now than to moving the court."
